


The Ace and The Joker

by OceannanotOceania



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Asexual!Michael, Heteroflexible!Gavin, M/M, University AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-29
Updated: 2014-06-20
Packaged: 2018-01-17 11:47:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 29,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1386508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceannanotOceania/pseuds/OceannanotOceania
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Michael is asexual, and Gavin is the most sexual person you could ever meet. Somehow, they make it work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Michael

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh shout out to my beta Zeke for pushing me this fic and making it sound like a gazillion times better. He also writes shit so go check [him](http://www.pineneedlenest.tumblr.com/) out. I'm aiming to publish this on Friday or Saturday once a week, so, uh yeah.

“Dude, we have an exam in Physics at nine tomorrow, you sure this is a good idea?” Michael mumbled, glancing up at the entrance to the club.

“I’m surprised that you suddenly care,” Ray replied. “You never were the type to care about that sort of thing.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Well, I’d rather not fail the course.”

Ray looked over at Michael. “Look, are you uncomfortable about that whole...asexual thing with you?”

“Really, dude?” Michael shook his head. “Yeah, I’m pretty worried. Not exactly the best place to find a romantic partner.”

Ray shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll be fine. Just go dance, and who knows who you’ll find.” Michael scowled at the prospect. “Look, if I’m not too busy with someone, I’ll go bat away any of the horny douches that harass you.”

“Alright.” Michael sighed. He glanced up again, realizing that they had just gotten up to the bouncer.

The guy looked like a stereotypical bouncer, unnecessarily bulky, hair kept in a buzzcut, eyes hidden behind sunglasses despite it being ten o’clock at night. The guy appeared to give Michael a once-over, and Michael couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Tonight was going to be _great_.

“ID?” The bouncer asked. Michael and Ray pulled out their IDs, letting the bouncer temporarily inspect them before they were put away. “You guys look a bit young for 21.” Ray glanced over to Michael, who sighed. After a few seconds, the bouncer shrugged. “Whatever, come on in.”

The two walked over to the open door of the club, suddenly hit in the face with the thudding bass of the music. The club was minimally lit, the major source of the light around the dance floor, where there was an array of strobing lights, pulsating as they cast rainbows on the dance floor.

“Talk about causing seizures.” Michael mumbled. Ray snickered. “Right. Let’s head over to the bar.”

“Dude, in the event that I need to get a ride home from you, I’d rather not end up being in a car that gets pulled over.”

“Fuck off.” Michael mumbled. “I don’t get _that_ drunk.”

Ray shrugged. “Right, let’s head over.”

The two walked over to the bar, which was fairly crowded already. There were a couple of bar stools left, but Michael already knew that he’d rather not sit there. Once a few people had cleared the bar, heading over to either the tables scattered around the club, or to the dance floor itself, which seemed to be take up about a third of the place, Michael and Ray walked over. After a few seconds, the bartender walked over. Huh. She was pretty cute, though not really Michael’s type. She had blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, blue eyes reflecting the rainbow lights of the dance floor.

“What’ll you two be having tonight?” She asked.

“A round of tequila shots,” Michael said. “And, er, a pint of Lone Star.”

“Dude, I told you not to get slammed.” Ray whispered angrily. “Uh, could I have Coke?”

The girl flashed a smile. “I’ll get those out for you two.”

“I’ll be fine, alright?” Michael said. “I have a better tolerance for alcohol than you think.”

“I dunno, the party Miles threw a couple of years back would tell me otherwise.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Dude, that was freshman year. No one can hold their alcohol at that age.”

“Have you really gotten that much better at it?” Ray asked, an eyebrow raised.

“You’d be surprised.” Michael replied, looking over as the girl brought over the pint of beer and the shots. He grabbed one of the shots, knocking it back in one gulp. He cringed briefly before sighing. “Whoa.”

“God, I can smell that shit from here.” Ray scowled after taking a sip of his Coke.

“That’s how you know it’s good.” Michael replied.

Ray shrugged, watching Michael knock back the next shot. “So, you really haven’t been to a party since freshman year, huh?”

“Nope.” Michael replied. He glanced at the pair of empty shot glasses, shaking his head. He wasn’t going near those again, at least for now.

“Why the hell not?”

Michael raised an eyebrow. “Dude, you know exactly why I don’t go to those frat parties.” He said. “You know, beyond the fact that the beer there is always lukewarm and tastes like shit.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Ray said. “That was a bit harsh.” He took another gulp of his Coke. “I just, I’m still confused about your whole asexuality thing, okay?”

“What is there to be confused about?” Michael snapped. “I don’t feel sexual attraction, and I’m not big on sex in general. What the fuck else is there to understand?”

Ray shrugged. “I guess I don’t get it, since I’ve been a horny bastard since freshman year of high school.”

Michael snickered. “You’re right about that.” He saw Ray glance over to the dance floor. “Look, I’ll finish this pint, and if you’re not busy with someone, I’ll join you, alright?”

Ray nodded. “Dude, even if you’re not looking to get lucky, just try and have some fun, alright?”

“I’ll try to, calm the fuck down.”

Ray smirked. “I’ll see you in a bit.” He walked over to the dance floor.

Michael nodded, taking a swig of his beer. He glanced over to the dance floor. Most of the couples there were the same sex, punctuated by the occasional hetero couple. In the corner, there appeared to be some group of three people, two guys and one girl, grinding together. Michael shook his head, watching Ray as he danced around the edge of the mass on the dance floor. He blew out a breath, turning back to the bar and taking another swig of his beer.

God. Why’d he let Ray take him here? Michael idly swirled the beer in his glass before taking another swig from it. He really shouldn’t be here. Frankly, the only reason he let Ray drag him along was the prospect of good alcohol, and actually getting to spend some time with the fucker. Obviously, the latter wasn’t happening. It’s not like he’d be able to find someone here that wasn’t just looking for a one-night stand, or someone to make out with. The likelihood of being able to find a romantic partner, or even just a friend, was slim to none at a place like this. Michael sighed, taking a sip of his beer.

After half an hour of bass trying to pound its way into his skull, Michael had finished his pint.  He stared into his empty glass, still unsure about whether or not he was ready to go dance. He glanced back to the dance floor, struggling to see where Ray had gone. Well shit. The fucker disappeared fast.

“You need another pint of that?” A man asked.

Michael glanced up, eyes widening at the sight of the stranger. Oh God, he was cute. His brown hair was spiked in practically every direction, his lopsided smile flashing a hint of teeth. His nose was rather large, but it didn’t detract from his attractiveness. He had an accent, presumably British.

“Nice accent.” Michael replied.

The man chuckled. “Thanks. Just came here the other day.”

“Nice.” Michael paused briefly, glancing at his empty glass. “Er, where you from?” Dammit. He’d fallen into the hell that was small talk.

“Oxfordshire.”

“Never heard of it.” Michael said bluntly.

“Not surprised.” The man replied. “So, you need another drink, or do you wanna go dance?”

Michael’s eyes widened. “Look, uh...”

“Come on, it’ll be top!”

“Dude, I don’t even know who the hell you are.”

“Gavin,” The man replied. “And you?”

“Michael.”

“Michael.” Gavin smirked. “I like that. So, Michael, shall we go dance? It’ll be awesome.”

Michael gulped. Why did his name sound so much better when Gavin said it? He shook his head, stumbling through his response. “Y-yeah, alright, let’s go.”

Gavin smiled. “That’s the spirit.”

Suddenly, Gavin grabbed Michael’s hand, dragging him to the dance floor, Michael swearing under his breath. Gavin was smiling, flashing his teeth as he started dancing. Michael couldn’t help laughing when he saw the display.

Gavin’s dancing, well, flailing, was toned down when he looked over to Michael. “What is it?”

“You look fucking ridiculous, is all.”

“I get told that a lot.”

Soon enough, Gavin was resuming his octopus-like dancing. Michael rolled his eyes, a small smile on his face as he started dancing to the repetitive beat of the club music.

Michael had lost track of how long the pair of them were out on the dance floor. Surprisingly, Gavin had not gotten closer than about a foot from Michael, completely different from the typical bumping and grinding associated with this sort of place.After being covered in sweat for too long, Michael convinced Gavin to come back to the bar. The two were panting, and Michael glanced over to Gavin. His hair looked much calmer than before, but was still mostly sticking up. Sweat was pouring down his face, and Michael couldn’t help noticing how the sweat beaded on Gavin’s nose. Michael burst into laughter, and Gavin couldn’t help but join in too.

Gavin gulped, Michael still giggling quietly to himself, and Gavin waved over the bartender, still lightly panting. “Barb, two waters please.”

The smile on Michael’s face fell as he looked over to the bartender.

“Of course.” She replied.

“Barb?” Michael’s voice hitched slightly.

“Well, Barbara.” Gavin replied.

“Oh,” Michael paused. “Never would’ve thought to ask her name.”

Barbara brought over the two waters, flashing a smile to Gavin, who smiled back. Michael held back a grimace.

Gavin shrugged before taking a sip of water. “She’s cute. The only reason I asked, to be honest.”

“Oh.” Michael mumbled. He shook his head before taking a rather large gulp of his water. Michael felt a tinge of an emotion he refused to call jealousy. "Oh, that is relief in a glass.”

Gavin nodded. “I hope that you had fun.”

“...Yeah, actually. It was a lot of fun.”

“Top!” Gavin exclaimed.

Michael snickered. “Such a weird thing to say.”

Gavin shrugged, glancing to the opposite side of the club, towards where a large group of tables were.

“Oh. I’m sorry Michael, I’m gonna need to leave.”

Michael raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Don’t want my ride to leave me behind.” He grabbed a napkin off the bar, then mooched a pen from Barbara. He scribbled hurriedly on the napkin before sliding it to Michael. “Talk to you later?”

Michael glanced down at the napkin, before looking up at Gavin.  “Yeah, talk to you later.”

Something unreadable flashed across Gavin’s face before he turned away from the bar. Michael watched Gavin walk away until he blended in with the crowd. Michael turned back to the bar, idly drinking his water.

A couple of minutes later, Michael heard someone slip into the stool next to him, muttering to himself. Michael raised an eyebrow, turning to the man who turned out to be Ray.

“You alright?”

“Wish I could tolerate the taste of alcohol enough to take some shots.” Ray sighed. He glanced over to the glass of water in front of him before pointing to it. Hesitantly, Michael nodded. Ray grabbed the water, taking a sip of it.

“Girl or guy?”

“Guy,” Ray replied. “Joel was his name, I think. We were fine, just dancing and having fun. We kissed a bit, actually. God, he was a good kisser.” Ray shook his head. “We’d been dancing for, I dunno, half an hour, and I asked if he’d like to take this back to his place. He turned me down, saying that it’d been fun, but he couldn’t sleep with someone half his age. He left after telling me that.” Ray took a sip of his water. “And, well, now I’m here.”

“Ouch.” Michael said.

“Yup.” Ray took another gulp of his water, glancing at the napkin Gavin had written his number on. “I see you had some luck tonight.”

Michael looked down at the napkin. “Oh, yeah. He, uh, had to leave early.”

“He?”

“Uh, yeah.” Michael raised an eyebrow.

“Hm.” Ray shook his head. “He pull anything funny?”

“No, actually.” Michael replied. “He was nice. He didn’t try to pull that grinding bullshit on me.”

“Hm. Glad you got something out of tonight.” Ray said. “You wanna go home?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Michael waved down Barbara, paying for the drinks they had bought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you didn't know, I have a [Tumblr](http://oceannanotoceania.tumblr.com/). Also, while I don't think there'll be a lot of terminology thrown around, I plan on being able to discuss Michael's asexuality, so a good place to see some basic information about the terms I might use/just general things about the spectrum that is asexuality I'd recommend going [here](http://www.asexuality.org/home/general.html).


	2. Gavin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, shoutout to my beta Zeke, you should go check him out.  
> Oh yeah, so, something I thought would be better to tell here: I'm going to be alternating the POV throughout this fic between Michael and Gavin. I figured it'd give it a nice dynamic, and I hope that you guys end up agreeing with me. :3 For now, their POVs will be mirroring similar events a lot, though in the future I plan on it being more staggered, and having each one lead into the other.

“I just finished unpacking.” Gavin said, walking into the kitchen.

“Awesome.” Geoff was in the middle of deliberating whether he wanted flat scotch or vodka tonight. “Are you still wanting to go out tonight?”

“If you’re alright with it,” Gavin replied.

“Griffon and I haven’t gone out in a while,” Geoff said. “Besides, there’s not a better way to celebrate your first day of college in the U.S. than going to check out the club scene.”

Gavin smirked. He hadn’t gotten a good lay in about a month. “Yeah let’s go. It’ll be top.”

Geoff snickered. “Yes, it’ll be top.” His voice mocked Gavin’s accent at the word. “It’ll probably take ten or fifteen minutes for Griffon and I to get ready, you okay with that?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

Geoff nodded before heading up to his and Griffon’s room. Gavin let out a breath, heading to his room.

Gavin had just arrived in the U.S. today, so his room was pretty bare. Geoff and Griffon, his host parents while he was staying in the U.S, had given him the spare room  at their house. It was fairly sized, the only furniture being a twin bed (might be difficult to maneuver on if he brought anyone home), and oak desk pushed against the wall opposite the doorway, a fairly large window above it, and an oak dresser. Opposite the bed was a door into the closet, the major feature of it being the white closet rod, which was attached to a shelf.

Gavin walked over to his closet, opening the door. About half of his clothes were hung, the other half spilling out from the open suitcase. He let out a breath, browsing first through the few clothes which were hung up. He rolled his eyes, kneeling on the floor to sort through the clothes Eventually, he pulled out a pair of rather tight jeans, and a t-shirt which said ‘Touch My Awesome Button’, along with the tennis shoes he had been wearing. It was a bit more casual than what he’d wear at clubs back home, but maybe the cheeky phrase on his shirt would be enough.

After about twenty minutes, the three of them were stood in a line outside of the club. Gavin glanced at his phone, seeing that it was only nine o’ clock.

“Bit early for the queue to be this long, innit?”

Geoff raised an eyebrow before shrugging. “Place is popular. Happens.”

“We’ve been here a few times before, though.” Griffon added. “Ideally, we shouldn’t have too much trouble getting in.”

Gavin sighed, pulling out his phone, browsing through his texts at random. He quickly put away his phone as the line started to move, quietly groaning when the three of them moved about one or two feet in line. He glanced over to Geoff and Griffon. Griffon was stood with her arms crossed, one of her feet tapping idle rhythms on the concrete sidewalk, while Geoff’s gaze alternated between the front of the line, Griffon, and his phone. Gavin looked away from the pair, idly checking out the various people in line in an attempt to stave off his boredom. Many of the girls were dressed in tight-fitting dresses that stopped at mid-thigh. They were congregated in groups of three or four, either messing around with their phone, or surveying the people lined up outside the club, as Gavin was doing. As for the guys, they were dressed at varying levels of formalness, from t-shirt and jeans, to button-down shirts and trousers that hugged all the right places. Huh. Maybe he’d get with a guy tonight.

About fifteen minutes later, Gavin, Geoff and Griffon finally got up to the front of the line. Geoff walked up to the bouncer, a buff guy with sunglasses despite it being dark out.

“Only dicks wear sunglasses at night...” Gavin mumbled to himself.

The guard raised an eyebrow. “Geoff, the newbie with you?”

Geoff shot a glance to Gavin. “Er, yeah.”

The guard nodded his head to the door. “Alright, go on in.”

“Thanks man. How’s the girlfriend?”

“She caught me cheating. Got dumped a weeks ago.”

Geoff cringed. “That’s... bad. We’ll see you.”

Geoff, Griffon, and Gavin walked over to the open door. Once inside, Gavin was immediately hit with the club’s music, the beats of the bass the only thing he could really hear. He smirked, beginning to bob his head to the music. He followed Geoff and Griffon to a corner of the club just behind the dance floor. The lights here were much dimmer in relation to the dance floor, but the brightly-colored strobe lights helped cast sharp, angular shadows on the tables and booths, and slightly distorted the faces of the people that had congregated in this part of the club. Tables were spaced out at random, booths closer to the walls of the club. About half of the tables were occupied, and Gavin avoided keeping his gaze fixated too long on the abundance of couples snogging, both same-sex and different

“Sweet, our booth’s open.” Geoff nodded over to the largest booth in the area, tucked into the corner of the club. He and Griffon walked over to the booth, Gavin following close behind.

Geoff plopped into the right side of the booth, scooting towards the middle as Griffon scooted beside him. He put an arm Griffon’s shoulders, and Griffon looked over to Geoff before pressing a chaste kiss to Geoff’s lips. Gavin was stood on the left side of the booth, glancing over to the dance floor. Geoff and Griffon looked over to Gavin.

“There should be a few waitresses coming around if you wanna order something.” Geoff said. “Otherwise, the bar’s right across from the dance floor.”

Gavin looked back to the dance floor. “You guys gonna join me?”

“We’ll be there in a bit.” Griffon replied, looking over to Geoff. “Need some time alone.”

“Do you want me to grab you something from the bar?” Gavin asked.

Geoff shook his head. “We’ll be fine. Go have fun, you mincey little Brit.”

Gavin smirked before walking over to the bar. There was a mass of people around the bar, but he flitted over to a free spot, and went to sit down. He heard snippets of requests, along with bad pickup lines he believed were shot at the bartender. The bartender glanced over to Gavin, realizing that a new customer had come over, and walked over to Gavin, away from the pickup lines still being thrown at her. Once she had come over, Gavin realized why the drunken douches were trying to flirt with her. She was cute, blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, and bright blue eyes. The white t-shirt she had on flashed a hint of cleavage.

The bartender gave Gavin a once-over as she walked over, and flashed a smile. “What can I get for you?” There was the hint of an accent in her voice, something Gavin couldn’t quite place.

“Anything you recommend?” Gavin replied.

“Depends on how slammed you wanna get.” She said nonchalantly. “We keep good quality tequila, vodka, and whiskey. The rum’s not too bad either. Beer’s pretty good stuff.” She paused before adding, “Personally, I’m more a cocktail sort of girl.”

Gavin chuckled. “Alright. I’ll have a rum and Coke, then.” He added, “You allowed to drink on the job?”

“Technically, yes.” The bartender replied. “But, it’s easier to be sober when you have to handle the bad drunks.”

“Ah. Right.”

She quietly let out a breath. “I’ll, uh, grab your drink, then.”

“Er, yeah.” Gavin flashed a smile.

Gavin briefly watched Barbara, noting the small cringe on her face as she started filling people’s orders, all the while ignoring those same flirty men. He shook his head, turning in his seat to scan the people on the dance floor. It looked pretty crowded already, despite it only being around 9:30. The majority of people, unsurprisingly, were at various levels of grinding, some more fixated on making out with their partner rather than actually dancing. He’d definitely be able to get lucky tonight.

“Here you go.” The bartender’s voice brought Gavin’s eyes back to the bar.

“Thanks, love.” Gavin replied, taking a swig of the cocktail. “Wow. That’s strong stuff. I like it.”

“Only the best here.” The bartender said, a chuckle in her voice. She pointed to Gavin’s shirt. “Nice shirt, by the way.”

Gavin smirked. “Pretty cheeky, innit?” She nodded in response, a hint of confusion on her face. “So, what’s your name, love?”

“Barbara.” She said. “You?”

“Gavin.”

“Hm. So, Gavin, you don’t sound like you’re from around here.”

“Neither do you.” He replied. “I’m from the UK, and you?”

“Canada.” Barbara replied simply. “I moved to Austin, um, three years ago, now. You sound like you’re fresh off the boat, though.”

“Indeed. Just came here yesterday.” Gavin took another swig of his drink. “So, Barbara,”

“You can call me Barb, actually.”

Gavin smirked. “So, Barb, when do you get off your shift?”

“Not till about one in the morning.” Barbara scowled.

“Shame. Was wondering if we could go dancing in a bit.”

“When it's this busy? My boss would kill me.” Barbara turned her head when she heard a yell from across the bar. She sighed, rolling her eyes. “Sorry, Gavin. Talk to you later?”

Briefly, he considered stealing a napkin to scribble his number on, but he decided to forego it, instead flashing a smile before replying, “Yeah, hopefully.”

Barbara smiled in response before walking away. Gavin finished off his drink in a couple quick swigs, getting up and making his way to the dance floor. His head was already bobbing to the music as he begun dancing. Gavin mostly kept at the edge of the mob on the dance floor, looking around for anyone who appeared to be alone. Eventually, Gavin found a few girls, clad in short dresses, the tight fabric clinging to the curves of their body, on their own. Out of the group of girls, there were two who were with just dancing together, small smiles on their faces, while another girl was dancing half-heartedly, her eyes idly scanning the crowd. The girl locked eyes with Gavin, and he flashed a smile. The girl smirked in return, working her way through the crowd to join Gavin. She was more attractive up close, her hair jet black, tinted blue and red by the strobe lights above them, and was wearing a blue strapless dress.

The two started dancing, trying to find a way to sync their bodies to the beat of the song. Eventually, they started to bump and grind against each other. Gavin’s hands were wrapped around the girl’s waist, her hands up in the air. Gavin was reminded of the wonderful sensation of denim against cloth. The girl turned her head to face Gavin, lips slightly parted. When Gavin realized that the girl was trying to kiss him, he shook his head, backing away from the girl. Disappointment was apparent on the girl’s face as he walked away from her. With the next few people he danced with, the process ultimately was the same. Even with the rather attractive guy he danced with, who had blonde, straight hair, bangs swept towards the right side of his face, and who wore a skin-tight dress shirt and jeans, Gavin ultimately backed out of kissing him for a reason he couldn’t comprehend.

Gavin soon was back on the edge of the dance floor. He glanced over to the bar, his dancing becoming less focused. The bar had cleared up slightly, and he soon locked his eyes on the two boys who had just approached the bar. One of the guys was fairly short, hair a brownish-black, skin a few shades darker than the normal white skin tones he was used to seeing. He had glasses, which had short and rectangular frames that were thick and black. He was dressed casually, in shorts and a t-shirt. His companion was rather cute, at least from this distance. His hair was dark and curly, flashing hints of reddish-brown in the strobing lights. He had on a hoodie and bluish-black jeans on.

Gavin ended up watching the two guys for a bit. The thought of whether or not the two were dating briefly flashed through his mind. Well, they might be up for a three-way, although Gavin himself had never been involved in one. Could be pretty fun. Gavin shook his head, realizing that the shorter of the guys had just walked away. The curly-haired guy remained sat at the bar, idly sipping at a pint of beer.

Gavin found himself watching the boy for a few minutes, in the back of his mind pondering exactly why he was so fixated on the boy. Gavin shook his head, going back to trying to find a good spot within the dancing mass on the floor, pushing thoughts of the curly-haired boy out of his mind.

After about half an hour of being unable to find anyone worth taking home, or at least dancing and snogging for a bit, Gavin had wandered back to the edge of the dance floor. He glanced back to the bar, seeing the curly-haired boy still sat at the bar. The boy stared into his glass for brief moment, before he turned to look at the dance floor, eyes likely searching for his friend. When the boy turned back, Gavin let out a breath.

“Screw it.” Gavin mumbled under his breath, walking over to the bar. He let out another breath, leaning a hand against the rather sticky bar table. “You need another pint of that?”

The boy turned in his stool to face him, his eyes widening. Gavin gulped. Yup, he was still cute. He had brown eyes, and his curly hair looked even more red up close.

“Nice accent.”

Gavin couldn’t help but chuckle.

~

After a rather strenuous effort to pull Michael onto the dance floor, the boy had finally caved in, and Gavin couldn’t help but grin as he dragged Michael onto the dance floor, the boy cursing under his breath. Gavin decided that they should remain towards the edge of the mass on the dance floor, seeing the flash of hesitation on Michael’s face as they approached the crowd, many who were still in the middle of grinding and groping at each other. Gavin’s head bobbed to the beat of the music for a few seconds, choosing not to immediately grind up against Michael, before starting to dance randomly, putting no thought into his movements. Gavin glanced back to Michael just in time to see the boy burst into laughter. Michael was slightly hunched over, shoulders shaking as he laughed. He had a hand over his mouth, and Gavin saw his dimples. Oh god. He flashed a smile.

“What is it?”

Michael looked up. “You look fucking ridiculous is all.” He replied, still giggling.

“I get told that a lot.” Gavin stated before resuming his dancing. He saw Michael roll his eyes in response, before joining Gavin in his dancing.

As the two were dancing, Gavin edged closer and closer to Michael. When he was about a foot away from him, Michael glanced over to Gavin, his dancing abruptly more tense. Once Gavin stepped back from Michael, Michael flashed a smile, resuming his graceful movements. Gavin kept Michael’s expression of relief on his mind as he resumed dancing. The pair of them lost track of time, and Michael persuaded Gavin, with sweat pouring down his face and having to pant every few words, to go back to the bar.

Michael and Gavin walked away from the dance floor, commandeering a couple of bar stools that were sat next to each other. Gavin ran a hand through his sweat-covered hair, and placed it back on  the bar. Damn. Most of his gel seemed to have been sweated off. He glanced over to Michael when he abruptly burst out laughing. Gavin flashed a smile before joining in, initially chuckling half-heartedly before bursting into genuine laughter. Once the two had quieted down, Gavin waved down Barbara, lightly panting.

“Barb, two waters please.”

“Of course.” She replied, flashing a smile at Gavin before walking away.

Michael watched Barbara walk away for a few seconds before turning back to Gavin. “Barb?”

“Well, Barbara.”

“Oh,” Michael replied. “Never would’ve thought to ask her name.”

Barbara appeared, placing the two glasses in front of Gavin and Michael. She flashed him a smile and a brief wink, and Gavin unconsciously flashed a smile back.

Gavin shrugged, taking a sip of water. “She’s cute. The only reason I asked to be honest.” Of course, there was no need to ask now, seeing as how he had a much more interesting prospect beside him.

“Oh,” Michael mumbled. Gavin saw Michael take a fairly large gulp of water, and Gavin wondered if he had really seen a tinge of jealousy in Michael’s expression. “Oh, that is relief in a glass.”

Gavin chuckled quietly, before taking a gulp of the water himself. “I hope that you had fun.” He said after a few seconds of silence.

A hint of hesitation was on Michael’s face before he said, “...Yeah, actually. It was a lot of fun.”

Gavin grinned. “Top!”

Michael snickered, making Gavin raise an eyebrow. “Such a weird thing to say.”

Gavin merely shrugged in response. Suddenly, he thought he heard someone calling his name, and looked to the back of the club. He squinted, realizing that he saw a couple of familiar faces leaving the dance floor. “Oh. I’m sorry Michael, I’m gonna need to leave.” Gavin felt a tinge of regret after saying the words.

“Why?” Michael replied, an eyebrow raised.

“Don’t want my ride to leave me behind.” Gavin glanced around the bar before grabbing a napkin. He waved Barbara over, and grabbed a pen from her. Hurriedly, he scratched his number onto the napkin. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Barbara looking over to him with an unreadable expression. He pushed all thoughts away of the girl before looking up at Michael, sliding the napkin closer to Michael. “Talk to you later?”

Michael glanced down at the napkin, taking in the digits scribbled on there, before looking up at Gavin. “Y-Yeah, talk to you later.”

Gavin hesitated, looking at Michael’s expression. He could see a tinge of disappointment in Michael’s eyes. Gavin wanted to kiss him, but couldn’t bring himself to do it, the reason why being unknown to him. He placed the pen on the bar before walking away.

After a brief glance around the club, he found Geoff and Griffon, and walked over to them.

“I saw you over with a guy at the bar,” Geoff said. “You not going home with him?”

Gavin glanced back to Michael, seeing the boy take another gulp of his water. He frowned briefly before shaking his head. “Er, no.”

“Any reason why?” Geoff asked. “You, er, seem like the type for a one night stand.”

“...No.” Gavin replied. “Er, I’m not sure.”

Geoff and Griffon shared a look of understanding.

Griffon held out a hand. “Come on guys, let’s go home.”

Gavin nodded, following behind Geoff and Griffon.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I've said probably too many times already, I have a Tumblr. I post writing there, although since I'm in the midst of writing this lovely fic, I can't really guarantee that there'll be a lot there. :'D


	3. Michael

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to my beta Zeke he cool af and has writing of his own that you should check out.

The very loud, very annoying sound of someone yelling ‘GG!’ filled the air in Michael’s room. He groaned, rolling over in bed and grabbing his phone. He tapped the screen before placing the phone to his ear.

“What?” Michael growled, sleep on the edges of his voice.

“Good morning to you, too.” Ray replied. “You know what day it is, right?”

“Yeah,” Michael raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“We’ve got class in about twenty minutes.”

Michael looked over to the alarm clock on his nightstand. “Goddammit!” Michael groaned, placing a hand on his throbbing head. No yelling it is.

“Hungover?”

“...Yeah,” Michael sighed. “I didn’t even drink that much.”

Ray chuckled. “I left some meds and water on the dining room table before going up to my place.”

Michael rolled back onto his back in bed, letting out another groan. “Thanks man.”

“Yup. You gonna be up for driving?”

“Yeah, I should be.” Michael rubbed at his temples. “I’ll be down in a bit.”

“Bye.”

Michael ended the call before rolling out of bed. He walked over to the bathroom, trying to walk faster than what his body wanted to do. He grabbed the jeans he had worn yesterday, along with a t-shirt and boxers from his closet.

Michael quickly changed before shoving the few textbooks and notebooks he needed for today into a black backpack. He hastily walked into dining room, heading straight to the dark-stained wooden table there. As Ray had promised, a couple of pills were sat on the table, next to a half-full glass of water and an energy bar. Michael began to pocket the bar, feeling something brush his fingers. He raised an eyebrow, taking what ended up being a napkin out of his pocket. As he flattened the napkin, eyes scanning the string of numbers hastily scrawled on it, Michael’s eyes slowly widened, small tidbits of the events of last night flitting through his mind.

Shit. Last night really had happened.

Michael shook his head, pocketing the energy bar before walking out of his apartment. Ray was waiting in the parking lot, stood by Michael’s rather shitty black sedan.

“Man, you look like shit.” Ray greeted.

“Fuck off,” Michael replied. He went to the driver’s side, throwing open the door before he got in. Both the driver’s and passenger’s door simultaneously slammed shut.

Ray glanced over to Michael as MIchael flipped the ignition. “You sure you’re alright, man?”

“Y-Yeah.” Michael’s thoughts briefly went back to the number left on his dining room table. Ray raised an eyebrow as Michael shook his head. “Come on, we’re probably gonna be late as it is.” Michael pulled out of the parking lot.

~

Over the next week, the napkin with Gavin’s number scrawled on it stayed on the dining room table. Every morning before Michael sped down to his car to drive to work or to his job at Gamestop, and every evening Michael came home, intent on ordering takeout or eating leftovers before a gaming binge or a TV marathon, Michael’s eyes ultimately wandered to the napkin. He’d walk over, running a finger over the numbers before shaking his head, resuming what he had been in the middle of doing. Finally, once a week had passed, Michael shook his head, pulling out his phone. He grabbed the napkin, dialing the number and placing the phone to his ear.

Michael’s breathing slowed, loud sighs that tried to quell the edginess he felt. God, why was he so nervous? It’s just a phone call.

After five rings that lasted an eternity, the call went to voicemail. Well, an attempted phone call. Michael ended the call, placing the phone, and, hesitantly, the napkin on the table. He let out a shaky breath, glancing over to the clock on the microwave. It was two in the morning. Maybe Gavin went to bed at a more decent hour than him. Michael heaved a sigh, heading over to his bedroom.

~

“So what exactly are we doing today?” Ray glanced to Michael.

“Fuck if I know.” Michel replied. “Never looked at the syllabus, remember?”

“Right.” Ray rolled his eyes. “Probably the rest of that relativity shit, right?”

“Probably.” Michael went over to the door for lecture room 2A, opening it for Ray.

The lecture hall was already bustling, even though it was fifteen minutes before class. The hall had fifteen rows of desks, just enough space between each small desk to allow a person to fit through. Three stairs ran up between the chairs in the hall, two along the edge of the desks, and one straight up the middle. The back third of the desks were occupied, along with about half of the seats in the middle. There were a few people sat in the front of the classroom, mostly the kiss-asses and a few brave souls.

Ray and Michael walked up the middle staircase, taking their normal seats in the middle row, a few seats left of the direct center. Michael took out his textbook and a notebook from his bag, zipping it up before kicking it under his desk. He glanced over to Ray, who just had a thin binder filled with paper, and whose gaze flickered between Michael and his textbook.

Michael groaned. “Goddammit.” He muttered. “Yes, we can share it.”

Ray smirked. “Yes.”

“S’up assholes?” A girl with dark red hair asked, a small smile on her face.

“S’up asshole?” Michael replied with a smirk.

Ray looked behind him. “S’up, bitch?”

Lindsay snickered, taking the seat next to Ray. “Any idea what we’re doing today?”

Ray tittered.

“Fuck if I know.” Michael replied.

“So helpful.” Lindsay rolled her eyes.

The lecture hall quieted, and Michael looked up to the front of the hall. There was a podium sat in front of a large chalkboard, the screen for a projector hung above it. Their physics professor, currently clad in a t-shirt and jeans, glasses perched on the edge of his nose, walked up to the podium, his shoes clacking on the floor.

“Morning, class.” Professor Haywood flashed a smile.

“Morning.” A few students replied.

“Alright, if everyone would like to turn to page-”

The door burst open, slamming on the plaster wall behind it. Professor Haywood raised an eyebrow, looking over to the student who was currently panting, grip tight on the strap of his gray messenger bag. His hair was erratic, spiked in all directions, and glistening where gel had been applied.

Michael felt a spark of recognition at the boy’s appearance.

He squinted.

Wait. Is it... It can’t be.

“Is this Physics 3302?” The boy asked in a very British accent.

“Yes, it is,” Professor replied, irritation in his voice. He paused, a lightbulb seeming to appearing over his head before his eyes widened. “Oh, you must be the new student.” He raised his voice in the next sentence. “Everyone, this is our exchange student, Gavin Free. He hails from the UK, so try to avoid teasing about the accent, alright?”

Michael’s gaze remained fixated on Gavin.

What. _What._

“Well, Mr. Free, there are plenty of unoccupied seats to choose from, if you’d like to allow us to resume class.”

Gavin’s panting quieted down, his eyes flickering around the room. His gaze landed on Michael, and Michael felt his stomach drop. Gavin smiled, and he walked up the center staircase, right up to Michael’s row. Oh shit oh shit oh shit... The words rang like a mantra in his head. He felt Ray punch his shoulder, and shot a glare Ray’s way. Ray pointed behind Michael, and Michael slowly turned his head.

Oh God.

“You mind if I sit here?” Gavin asked nervously.

“Ye-yeah,” Michael replied. “Go ahead.”

Gavin smiled his lopsided smile, mumbling a brief “Cheers.” before taking the seat next to Michael. He placed his messenger bag on the floor.

“Now then, let’s finish up relativity today, shall we?” Professor Haywood proposed. “Turn to page 920, and we’ll begin.” He grabbed a small remote from the podium, turning on the projector, a PowerPoint appearing on the screen. “As we began to talk about last time...”

As Michael began taking notes, he heard Gavin rustling through his bag. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gavin place a notebook on his desk, turning back to his bag. An expression of disdain came onto his face before he hissed out a faint “Bollocks.”

Michael turned to Gavin. “Er, you okay?”

Gavin looked up to Michael. “I, uh, think I left my textbook at home. You mind if we shared yours?”

“Ye-yeah, that’s uh, that’s fine.” Michael grabbed the textbook that was sprawled between his and Ray’s desk. Ray glared over at Michael, an eyebrow raised.

“Fucking share with Lindsay.” Michael hissed in reply. Ray rolled his eyes, turning to Lindsay. Michael placed the textbook between his and Gavin’s desks, hoping Gavin wouldn’t bump into it during the lecture.

“Thanks, Michael.” Gavin smiled sheepishly.

Michael gulped, feeling a faint flush on his face. This much blushing can’t be healthy. He shook his head, looking back to the front, hastily writing the words on the PowerPoint.

Michael and Gavin sat in silence, taking notes as Professor Haywood spoke at the typical lightning speed.

Concentrating in class was damn near impossible. He should have been paying attention better, especially since this recent unit was hard for Michael. However, one Gavin Free was being incredibly distracting. Michael kept stealing glances of him, feeling some sort of exalted happiness of being able to see Gavin again. A small part of him wondered why the fuck the universe had decided to let the pair be together. A few times Michael glanced over to Gavin, he was met by the man’s gaze. Michael would look away quickly, eyes focusing on Professor Haywood or his notebook.

Michael let out a breath, glancing at his essentially nonexistent notes from today. Shit. Well, he’d probably mooch notes from Lindsay; she normally took better notes than him anyways. Gavin flashed a small expression of thanks, and Michael smiled nervously in response, before shoving the textbook and his notebook into his backpack, then slung it over one shoulder.

Michael felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to see Ray with a conspiring look on his face. Dammit. “So, Michael, you appeared to be well-acquainted with the new kid, why don’t you introduce him to Lindsay and I?”

Michael turned back to where Gavin was sitting. The man had his messenger bag hung over one shoulder. Gavin quickly glanced behind him towards the stairs at the end of this row before turning to look at Michael. Michael turned back to Ray and Lindsay, who had gotten up now as well, Lindsay’s eyes flitting between Michael and Gavin. “Ray, Lindsay, this is Gavin.” He pointed to the aforementioned man. “We, er, met at a...gathering.” The idea of saying that they had met at a club was all too unappealing for Michael. “Gavin, this is Lindsay and Ray. I hang out with these douches a lot for some reason.”

Ray scoffed. “I think it’s the other way around, actually. This guy here wouldn’t have any friends if it weren’t for me and Lindsay.”

Michael glared at Ray. He pulled out his phone, quickly glancing at the clock on it. “So, uh, I have class in a few minutes, I really should go-”

“You are such a bad liar, Michael Jones.” Ray cut in. Michael glared at him, while Lindsay snickered quietly behind Ray. “You haven’t got class for another twenty minutes, how about you stick around while Lindsay and I interview your new friend.” Ray looked over to Gavin. “So, Gavin, you liking the new school?”

“Y-Yeah, it seems like a lovely place,” Gavin said. “Definitely bigger than my university back home.”

“I feel that,” Lindsay added. “First day of school freshman year, I was late to every single class I had that day, all ‘cause I couldn’t find any of the damn rooms.” She paused. “So, uh, Michael, I was wondering if I could ask Gavin a few things on my own, you mind?”

Michael gulped. “Yeah, whatever. Go ahead. I’ll see you assholes later.”

Michael looked over to Gavin, giving a small wave before heading over to the stairwell, He lightly jogged down the stairs, glancing back up to Lindsay and Gavin, who were heading to the center stairwell, the two already in the midst of talking quietly to themselves. Michael felt a small tap on his shoulder, turning to see Ray with a conspiring look on his face. “Goddammit. What, Ray?”

“Is that lover boy from last week?” Ray replied bluntly.

“...What.”

“Dude, you think I forgot about that number you got?” Ray asked. “I’m still jealous about that shit, man. So, am I right?”

“Yeah,” Michael replied hesitantly. “Yeah, it is.”

“You already seem to be in pretty deep.”

“What makes you think that?”

“You think I didn’t notice how distracted you were today? I know that it wasn’t because of how boring this topic is, cause I’ve heard you bitch plenty of times of how you think this unit’s gonna fuck your GPA over, even if you do hate this class.” Ray said, an eyebrow raised. “So? I hit the mark?”

Michael sighed. “Yeah, you did.”

“You call him at all?”

“I tried to. He never answered, so I gave up.”

“Ouch.”

“No, it’s, it’s fine.” Michael stuttered. “I mean, h-he was probably busy, or asleep. I mean, it was two in the morning.”

“Which is nothing for 95% of college students.”

Michael rolled his eyes “Maybe he’s part of that other 5%, man.”

“Whatever.” Ray replied. “So, you gonna ask him out?”

Michael’s eyes widened. “Wh-where the fuck did you get that from?”

“Dude, you already said you were in too deep. Naturally, you gotta see if he’d be chill with dating you.” Ray wiggled his eyebrows. “So, you gonna do it?”

“...I dunno, maybe?” Michael after a second of deliberation. “Isn’t it a bit early, though? I mean, maybe he’s actually a huge douche. Maybe he’s a horrible person to date. I barely know him, so how the fuck am I supposed to figure that out?”

“Dude, YOLO right?” Ray replied. “I’m sure you guys’ll work out just fine. Besides, someone between the two of us needs to actually _get_ some action.” Michael glowered at Ray. “Er, sorry. Bad phrasing.”

“Look, I just, I need to wait, alright?” Michael pleaded. “I haven’t been in a relationship since I dated Lindsay in high school, so I’m not exactly familiar with how to handle this shit.”

“Dude, that’s exactly _why_ you need to ask Gavin out,” Ray paused. “Look man, I worry about you sometimes. You’ve never been big on having a social life, but at least you had more of one back in high school and during college freshman year. I know that shit’s gotten harder since we’re both doing more work related to our majors, but that doesn’t mean you need to isolate yourself and not have some fun during the rest of college, okay?” He sighed. “Look, just, think about it, alright?”

“...Yeah, yeah I will.” Michael replied after a few seconds.

Ray grinned. “Really, though. It’s probably way too early to say this, but something tells me that Gavin’s really gonna be good for you.”

Michael let out a breath. In actuality, Ray was probably right. “...Yeah. Maybe.” He pulled out his phone again. “I’m gonna head to class, so, see ya?”

“Yeah man, see ya.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a Tumblr. You should go check it out, though I don't really have much writing there since I'm a bit busy with this. :'D


	4. Gavin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, my beta's awesome as hell, go check him out here if you haven't already.  
> So, I forget when I talk about what college Gavin's going to, but it's UT. Since I haven't really been there ever, except when they had these public tour things I went to when I was like eight or nine, I'm kind of having to take some liberties with how the school is set up. So, er, sorry about that. :'D

After a week of the most inefficient bureaucracy known to mankind, Gavin had finally been registered for classes at The University of Texas. Well, re-registered would be a better way to describe it. While the university was able to remember that Gavin was enrolled in the foreign exchange program back home, allowing him to be enrolled in the university, they had lost the paperwork that showed the bloody courses he had been enrolled in. The past week had been filled with flitting between the university and back to Geoff and Griffon’s house, filling out exact copies of the paperwork he’d needed to fill out back home, and praying that he’d been signing up for the courses he’d originally signed up for. Geoff and Griffon were extremely helpful, as well. In addition to giving him rides between the university back home, the pair fought with the administration at the university, trying to get them to actually talk to Gavin’s university back home in order to retrieve Gavin’s original paperwork.

Finally, at the end of the longest week Gavin was sure he’d had in his whole life, they had found his original paperwork. Geoff and Griffon were beyond satisfied, and were able to eke out a genuine apology from the administration both in Austin and back home. After that whole ordeal, Gavin realized exactly how amazing the host parents he’d been assigned to were.

Of course, that wasn’t too helpful now. Gavin had one hand holding a schedule on the verge of being completely crumbled, the other hand grasping the strap of his messenger bag, making sure it wouldn’t slip off as he ran down the mostly empty hallway. Of course he had to get lost on his first bloody day of classes. Who the hell decided it was a good idea to call the ground floor the first floor, anyways? Gavin shook his head, stopping as he saw a sign at the edge of the hallway. Panting, he read down the sign, seeing that the lecture hall was indeed at the very end of the hall. He looked away from the sign, peering down the very long hallway. Dammit.

Eventually, Gavin reached the end of the hallway. He glanced between the few classrooms, eyes stopping on a set of large double doors. There. Lecture hall 2A. Gavin burst through the doors, hearing it slam on the wall. Every pair of eyes of the rather large eyes landed straight on him, including the professor’s...Professor Haywood’s, Gavin realized.

Gavin gulped. Still panting lightly, he huffed out, “Is this Physics 3302?”

Professor Haywood raised an eyebrow. “Yes, it is.” He grit out. The look of disdain faded, replaced by an expression of understanding. “Oh, you must be the new student.” Professor Haywood turned to address the class.

“Everyone, this is our new foreign exchange student, Gavin Free.”

Gavin glanced over to the people sat in the front rows, seeing the gazes of many of the girls lock on him. Ah. This should be interesting.

“He hails from the UK, so try to avoid teasing about the accent, alright?” Professor Haywood concluded.

A few of the girls smiled, turning to talk quietly to their friends next to them. American girls and their love for Brits was a concept Gavin still failed to grasp.

“Well Mr. Free, there are plenty of unoccupied seats to choose from, if you’d like to allow us to resume class.”

Gavin nodded, gulping before his panting quieted down. His eyes flitted up the rows, stopping when he hit the center rows, where he saw a familiar face. He squinted.

Wait. Was that... No. Really?

Gavin smiled, wider than he probably should, before he walked up the center side staircase, sliding through the center row before he approached Michael. Once he approached Michael, Gavin saw Michael’s companion from the club point over to Gavin before Michael turned his head. Michael’s eyes were wide, easily betraying exactly how surprised he was.

“You mind if I sit here?” Gavin asked, feeling more nervous than he probably should be.

“Ye-yeah,” Michael replied about as nervously as Gavin. Michael gulped. “Go ahead.”

Gavin grinned. “Cheers.” He took off his bag, placing it on the floor near the small desk before taking a seat.

He heard Professor Haywood resume his lecturing as he leaned over, beginning to rummage through his bag. Even though he only had two classes today, the bloody thing was overflowing, a large binder filled with paper and work from his uni back home, along with the materials he actually needed here. He grabbed an empty notebook, placing it on his desk before leaning back over. Oh no. Gavin continued to rummage through his bag, realizing that indeed, he had left his textbook at home. The joys of having the alarms he set choosing not to go off. He blew out a breath, muttering a ‘Bollocks.’

“Er, you okay?” Michael asked. Gavin looked up, seeing an expression of what appeared to be some amount of concern on Michael’s face.

“I, uh, think I left my textbook at home.” Gavin uttered. “You mind if we shared yours?”

Michael hesitated before replying, “Ye-yeah, that’s, uh, that’s fine.” He turned towards his companion, and Gavin heard Michael share whispered conversation between him and his friend, annoyance apparent in Michael’s voice. Michael placed the textbook between them, making it balance precariously between their desks.

“Thanks, Michael.” Gavin replied, a small smile on his face. He felt the impulse to smile wider when he saw Michael’s face flush slightly before he turned away.

Throughout the class, Gavin had just enough ability to understand what Professor Haywood was lecturing about. At his uni back home, they had just finished going over relativity, so this ended up being a simple review more than anything. However, it was hard to review much what with how Professor Haywood lectured. He practically spoke at a million miles an hour, and the PowerPoint he flicked through was of little help. And one Michael Jones was of little help. The two of them appeared to be equally keen on glancing at each other, Michael in particular. Whenever Michael locked eyes with Gavin, his face would flush before he turned to focus on the lecture. Gavin couldn’t help quietly chuckling whenever he saw that.

Gavin felt a wave of relief wash over him when the lecture finally came to an end. He quickly packed his notebook away, then got up and slung the messenger bag over his shoulder. He flashed Michael a small smile of thanks, seeing the man grin sheepishly in response, before Gavin started to walk towards the left staircase.

Gavin turned back when he heard Michael’s companion say, “So, Michael, you appear to be well-acquainted with the new kid, why don’t you introduce him to Lindsay and I?” Gavin’s gaze flickered briefly to the staircase again, before looking to Michael. The boy’s expression illustrated a mix of dread and embarrassment. Gavin saw the girl with dark red hair who had been sitting next to Ray get up and look over to Gavin, an expression of curiosity in her eyes.

“Ray, Lindsay, this is Gavin.” Michael stated, the sense of dread still in his voice. “We, er, met at a...gathering.” Gavin smirked at Michael’s use of the word gathering. Sure, it was a gathering, to an extent. Not exactly the best sort of gathering, though. “Gavin, this is Lindsay and Ray. I hang out with these douches a lot for some reason.”

Ray scoffed. “I think it’s the other way around, actually. This guy here wouldn't have any friends if it weren't for me and Lindsay.”

Gavin chuckled quietly. They really were good friends, huh.

Michael glanced nervously around the room before pulling out his phone.“So, uh, I have a class in a few minutes, I really should go-”

“You are such a bad liar, Michael Jones.” Ray cut in. Gavin saw Michael glare at him, something bordering fury in his eyes, while the girl, er, Lindsay snickered quietly behind Ray. “You haven’t got class for another twenty minutes, how about you stick around while Lindsay and I interview your new friend.” Ray looked over to Gavin. “So, Gavin, you liking the new school?”

Gavin’s eyes widened. Bollocks. He hadn’t expected to be put on the spot so quickly. “Y-Yeah, it seems like a better lovely place,” Gavin replied nervously. “Definitely bigger than my university back home.”

“I feel that,” Lindsay added. “First day of school freshman year, I was late to every single class I had that day, all ‘cause I couldn’t find any of the damn rooms.” Gavin felt a small amount of relief at Lindsay saving him from making the situation too awkward. “So, uh, Michael, I was wondering if I could ask Gavin a few things on my own, you mind?”

Gavin saw the uneasy look in Michael’s eyes. “Yeah, whatever. Go ahead. I’ll see you assholes later.”

Michael gave a small wave to Gavin before walking past him to go down the left stairwell. Ray trailed behind him, a conspiring glint in his eyes. Gavin wasn’t really sure if he wanted to know what was going to happen.

“Come along, Gavin,” Lindsay waved Gavin over. Gavin shook his head, following Lindsay to the center stairwell.

“So when’s your next class?”

“In about an hour,” Gavin replied. “Geoff and Griffon, er, my host parents, wanted to show me something at the university. It’s in the fine arts hall, though.”

“Oh, that’s not too far from here.” Lindsay smirked. “Can I ask you a few questions real quick, then?”

“Er, yeah, that’s fine.” Gavin wasn’t sure if he had sealed his fate or not.

“Alright.” Lindsay briefly pondered before asking bluntly, “Where’d you actually meet Michael?”

Gavin gulped, unsure if he should stick to Michael’s alibi or not. He decided to do the latter, feeling as if the girl he was talking to would see through his lie. “We met at a club about a week ago. Can’t remember the name, though, I was a bit too busy trying to get lucky.” Oops.

“Oh, that was when Ray said he was taking Michael out.” Lindsay shook her head. “Wait, did you try to sleep with Michael?!”

“No!” Gavin replied too quickly. “No. I won’t lie, I had thought about it, but no, I couldn’t do that in the end. I was having too much fun dancing with him.” Lindsay still had a questioning look on her face. “It wasn’t that kind of dancing, it was just dancing between, you know, friends, where you just try to make a complete and utter fool of yourself.”

“Anytime I got about a foot close to Michael, he’d tense up, and really, I didn’t want to do that to him.” Gavin sighed. “I had thought about kissing him, but I couldn’t. Something about the idea seemed...wrong.” He shook his head. “Right before I needed to leave, I gave him my number. He had tried to call me, but I wasn’t paying attention to my phone. I wanted to call him back, but I got a bit busy with the administration losing my bloody papers.”

Lindsay nodded. Gavin felt his stomach drop. Wait. Had he just revealed all of that to a complete and utter stranger? “You seem like you’re a pretty nice guy, Gavin.” Lindsay said, the tone of her voice helping to take away some of Gavin’s dread. “I’m sure you’ll make a nice addition to our little group. I’ve gotta ask though, are you in love with Michael?”

Gavin’s stomach dropped again. “Er, what?”

“You think I didn’t notice you guys gawking at each other?” Lindsay tittered. “Ray and I kept quietly giving you guys flack for it; it was pretty amusing to watch.” Lindsay’s expression turned serious. “Really though, how do you feel about Michael?”

Gavin sighed. “I’m not too sure. I like him a lot, and, I dunno, maybe it’s love.” He paused. “Isn’t it a bit early to assume that, though?”

Lindsay shrugged. “Probably. If it’s your first instinct, though, you can’t really help feeling like that’s the case, though.” She paused. “Well, you guys can just be friends for now. Who knows, maybe one of you will cave and end up asking the other out.”

Gavin snickered. “Yeah, maybe.”

Lindsay smiled genuinely. “I’ll see you later, alright? It was nice to meet you, man.”

“Yeah, you too.”

~

Gavin knocked on the door to one of the film rooms. He could hear some muffled conversation through the door, and after a few seconds, he could hear a small glimpse of Geoff’s hearty laughter. The door opened, and Gavin was greeted by the sight of a man he didn’t know. He had brown hair cut close to his head, the beginnings of a beard on his face, glasses pushed up to the top of the bridge of his nose.

“Oh, you must be Gavin.” The man said. “Come on in.”

Gavin followed the man into the film room. The place was pretty large, rows of tables lined up in columns of two and facing a larger desk which had a small podium next to it. There were a few desks that lined the edge of the room, each one holding an array of video cameras, booms, and other equipment. There was a table in the back of the room, close to the door, which had a few pieces of camera equipment, and was where Geoff and Griffon were leaning.

“Yeah, this is our lil Brit, Gavin.” Geoff said with a small smile.

“You weren’t kidding about him being a lanky Brit, huh.” The man shook his head. “Oh yeah, I’m Burnie, by the way.”

Gavin walked over to Burnie, who had a hand held out. Burnie smiled before firmly shaking Gavin’s hand.

“Burnie’s the head of the film department here, and he was wondering if you could help him with a few things around here.” Geoff added.

“Geoff had said that you’ve worked with film since you were...” Burnie paused, suddenly unsure of what he needed to say.

“Sixteen.” Gavin stated. “Er, it was mostly work with slow-motion cinematography, though. Part of the reason I decided to do university instead of doing full-time work was so I could work towards getting enough education to be a director.”

“Huh.” Burnie shook his head. “Well, the things I need you to help me with aren’t quite as glamorous as the work you were doing up in the UK, but it’s still important. The grad students aren’t always the most competent people, so I was wondering if you could help with setting up equipment, doing extra editing, small things like that. I can’t exactly pay you like a grad student, but I can still give you a fair amount of money for helping out around here.”

Gavin looked over to Geoff and Griffon, who both had expressions that goaded Gavin to speak. “Er, yeah. Yeah, I’d like to do that.”

Burnie smiled. “Awesome. I’ll give you a break for today so you can get some time to explore the university. You cool with starting tomorrow?”

“Yeah, that’d be top.”

Burnie raised an eyebrow at the word. he glanced over to Geoff, who shrugged in reply. Burnie looked back to Gavin. “Alright, it’s set. You’ll start work tomorrow."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, er, if you didn't know by now, I have a Tumblr. I post writing there when I have the time and inspiration, although I'm lacking the former between school and this fic. :'D


	5. Michael Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my beta is awesome, and also has really awesome writing. You should go check it out.

“You inviting Gavin to game night?” Ray asked before taking a bite of his sandwich. The pair were sat in a booth at the Thundercloud near their school.

Michael was idly picking at his sandwich, and looked up to Ray. “Dude, I haven’t tagged along with you to that since the beginning of the year."

“Exactly. That’s why you’re coming with me.”

Michael groaned, rolling his eyes. “Dude, I need to study for-”

“Michael, you are so full of shit.” Ray said bluntly. “We don’t have an exam in any of our classes for another week, I think you can wait to study.”

Michael sighed. “Yeah, maybe. Who the fuck’s gonna be there, anyways?”

“Miles, Kerry, Caleb said maybe,” Ray replied. “Lindsay said she couldn’t make it this time, though.”

“...Yeah,” Michael groaned. Ray was right; he hadn’t really gone out much since Ray had dragged him to the club. “Yeah, I’ll go. I’ll call Gavin in a bit.”

“Good.” Ray smirked. “I think Miles said he was gonna start it around eight. You cool with giving me a ride there?”

“Yeah, whatever.” Michael pulled out his phone. “Shit, class is in ten minutes.”

Ray glanced at his phone. “Damn.”

Michael wrapped up the half-eaten sandwich. “Come on, let’s go.”

~

“Hey, so my friends are doing this stupid thing called Game Night,” Michael started to say once Gavin had picked up the phone.

“What is game night?” Gavin cut in.

Michael raised an eyebrow. “Er, it’s when a few of my friends get together and we stay up all night playing stupid video games.”

“Oh, I’m all up for that.” Gavin replied. “Where is it, exactly?”

“It’s at Miles’ apartment, he lives a few blocks away from me.” Michael replied. “Can you drive?”

“I never got my license.”

Michael sighed. “...Are you gonna need a ride?”

“If you’re okay with driving me, yeah.” Gavin replied after a few seconds.

“Yeah, yeah, um, that’s fine.” Michael blew out a breath.

“Top.” Gavin said. Michael could hear the smile in Gavin’s voice. “When is it, exactly?”

“Tomorrow night.” Michael paused. “Er, can you give me directions to your place?”

“Yeah, just tell me where you live, and I can try to go from there.”

“Y-yeah, give me a sec.”

After a few seconds of Gavin not talking, the faint sound of keys clacking on some sort of computer, Gavin fed directions to Michael.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” Gavin paused. “Thanks for taking me to this, Michael.”

Michael nodded. “Ye-yeah, it’s, it’s no problem.” He paused. “I’ll, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Michael quickly hung up the phone, placing it on the dining room table. He blew out a breath, glancing towards the kitchen. Damn. This would either go extremely well, or be the worst thing to happen to him. Michael hoped for the former.

\---

Michael felt antsy as he drove to pick up Gavin. Since he and Ray lived in the same building, Michael begrudgingly picked up Ray first, hoping that he wouldn’t cause much trouble. Gavin lived fifteen minutes away from their complex, so Michael headed over to Gavin’s house at 7:30.

“So, you guys touch tips yet?” Ray asked when they were sat at a stoplight.

Michael slammed his head on the top of the steering wheel. “I fucking hate you.”

Ray giggled. “Wait, does that mean you guys did?”

“No!” Michael exclaimed. “You’re so fucking ridiculous. You know I’m gonna stab you someday, right?”

“Nah, you wouldn’t. Admit it, you’d miss me.”

Michael looked over to Ray. “I don’t think I can.”

Ray burst out laughing as Michael started driving.

“We’re not even dating yet.” Michael stated.

Ray looked over to Michael, an expression of surprise on his face. “Wait, really?”

Michael shook his head. “Like I said a couple of months ago, I thought it’d be better if we just stayed friends for a while. We finally fell into a good rhythm, so why the hell would I ruin that by asking him out?”

“Damn.” Ray sighed. “Lindsay and I were wondering how we could goad you on if you hadn’t started dating Gavin yet, and now I can see that it’s gonna take more effort than we had thought it would.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “You guys are dumb.”

“If you say so,” Ray replied. “Some people would argue that you’re the real dumb person here, though.”

“Shut the fuck up, okay? We’re here.”

“Oh shit, are we really at Gavin’s house already?” Ray looked to the driver’s window, seeing Gavin walk over. Gavin flashed Michael a sheepish smile, and Ray couldn’t help snickering before waving to Gavin.

Gavin got in the front passenger seat. Ray still felt a tinge of resentment at not being able to ride shotgun, but also understood why that was the case. He couldn’t help smirking at the current situation.

“Hey, Ray.” Gavin greeted.

“S’up man?”

Gavin shrugged. “Curious to see how this is gonna turn out.”

“You assholes ready to go?” Michael asked, a small smile on his face.

Ray nodded. Gavin replied, “Yeah, let’s do this.”

Michael nodded before pulling out of the driveway to Gavin’s house.

“So, do you not have parents or something?” Ray asked.

“Yeah, I have host parents,” Gavin replied, an eyebrow raised. “Griffon’s at The Fort right now though; she’s a sculptor who uses a chainsaw to craft all sorts of really cool sculptures out of wood. As for Geoff, he works at this office with Gus, Joel, Matt, and a few other people whose names I can’t remember.” Gavin added, “They’re all kinda bored with what they’re doing though. Geoff said they were considering making this series that uses something called machinima to make a web series.”

Michael and Ray both raised an eyebrow. “What?” They replied in unison.

“Er, it’s when they record what they do in video games, and somehow they make a film with it. Guess it’s gonna kinda be like animation.” Gavin paused. “Er, I think they were gonna use Halo to make sort of this side story of what happens in the Halo universe besides the main plot. They were thinking of calling it Red vs Blue, I think?”

“Huh,” Ray replied.

“Sounds like it might be cool.” Michael added.

Gavin nodded. “So yeah. I do have host parents, they’re just pretty busy people.”

The three guys stayed mostly quiet throughout the rest of the ride, occasionally bringing up small talk topics before lapsing back into a relatively comfortable silence.

“Pretty sure Miles said it was gonna just be him and Kerry.” Ray said once they were outside Miles’ apartment complex.

“Not as bad,” Michael replied. “Glad to hear we’re not gonna have the l’il screen-looker in our group tonight.”

Ray chuckled as Gavin raised an eyebrow. Michael looked back to Gavin while they were climbing the stairs up to the third floor of the complex. “Caleb’s a notorious screen-looker. Even if it’s hard not to screen-look when you’re playing with a split-screen, it’s still pretty annoying when Caleb swoops in because he was more focused on someone else’s screen instead of his own.”

Michael walked up, knocking on Miles’ door. Michael heard a bit of a commotion inside- not surprising- before Miles opened the door.

“You guys are a bit early, but whatever.” Miles flashed a small smile. “How are you guys?”

“Not too bad.” Michael replied.

“Even better once we’re able to get the fuck inside.” Ray said bluntly.

Miles shook his head. “Yeah, yeah, come in.”

Miles’ apartment was laid out in a similar fashion to Michael’s. The dining room was to the left of the entrance to the apartment, divided by a small wall, while the living room took up the area near the door and to the right of it. A hallway about ten feet away from the door led back to the bedrooms and bathrooms. There were three bean bags sat on the floor near the TV and a small, black couch. The TV was tucked into the top, leftmost corner of the house, placed on top of a black entertainment center. The two shelves below the TV were filled to the brim with games on the lower shelf, while a PS3 and Xbox 360 were on the shelf immediately below the TV. There were two coolers open by the bean bags, one filled with sodas and water bottles, the other filled with a couple brands of beer.

“So, that’s Gavin, I’m guessing?” Miles pointed to the man.

Michael nodded. “Oh yeah, you and Kerry aren’t in any classes with him, right? Hell, you’re not in any of me and Ray’s classes.”

Miles nodded sadly. Kerry walked over at the same time, away from the bean bag he was sat on. “Is that the foreign exchange kid?” Kerry asked.

“Yeah.” Gavin replied hesitantly.

Miles and Kerry snickered. “His accent’s pretty strong, isn’t it?” Miles said.

Michael glared at Miles and Kerry before shaking his head. “Right. That asshole with the not-quite beard is Miles, and the short guy here is Kerry.” Kerry glared at Michael, Michael merely smirking in response.

Gavin gave a small wave.

“You like video games?” Kerry asked, looking to Gavin.

Gavin raised an eyebrow. “Er, yeah.”

“Good. You’ll fit in just fine.” Miles replied. He pulled out his phone, glancing at the time. “Well, guess Caleb’s not gonna make it today.”

“We’re better off without the screen-looker, anyways.” Michael stated, Ray snickering in response.

Miles shrugged. “Well. Let’s start then.”

“”Lllllet’s play!” Ray exclaimed. Michael giggled, laughing even harder when he saw the look of confusion on Gavin’s face.

Miles, Ray and Kerry quickly claimed the bean bags, Ray flashing Michael a smirk. “Motherfucker.” Michael groaned before taking a seat on the floor right in front of the couch. “Pass us some controllers, assholes.”

Miles rolled his eyes, handing Michael two controllers. Michael was about to hand Gavin one, raising an eyebrow when he couldn’t find the man. Gavin appeared in front of him a few seconds later, holding out a beer with one hand while he held his own in the other. Michael smiled, exchanging the extra controller for his beer.

“Figured you’d want a bev.” Gavin said, taking a seat on the floor next to Michael.

Michael raised an eyebrow. “Er, yeah. Thanks.” He shook his head, looking over to the TV, where Miles was in the midst of setting up the game.

“What are we even playing tonight?” Gavin asked.

“Probably Halo or COD.” Ray replied.

“Yup, it’s Halo.” Miles added.

“We’ve played Halo for the past few weeks, Miles.”

Gavin shrugged. “I like that game a lot actually. so I’m fine with playing that.”

Ray nodded. “Yeah we should play that.” There was an expression on Ray’s face that made Michael think that Ray was trying to act like some sort of wingman. Michael rolled his eyes.

Michael leaned back onto the edge of the couch, screwing off the twist cap on the beer bottle before taking a swig of it. He left out a sigh of relief as the alcohol started to set in. Michael glanced over to Gavin, who had his legs crossed, controller balanced on one knee as he took a swig of his beer.

Gavin looked over to Michael, a smile on his face. “This is gonna be top.”

Michael nodded. “Ye-Yeah, it will.”

As the gang played well into the dawn, Michael learned exactly how bad Gavin was at playing videogames. It seemed to be that every couple of minutes, Gavin would have found a way of committing suicide, or making his character jump right in front of either Michael or Ray, immediately getting killed. Of course, not only was Gavin bad at games, he made these weird screams that reminded Michael of the cries of some sort of bird that might have been dying whenever Gavin messed up while playing.

“Sausages!” Gavin exclaimed right after jumping in front of another player yet again, his character being shot to the ground a few seconds later.

Michael shot Gavin a glance. “What?” He could hear Ray snickering at Gavin’s phrasing, Miles and Kerry more focused on the game at hand.

“Did you not see me jump in front of that bloody guy?” Gavin asked.

Michael raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. “Yeah, yeah.”

A few seconds later, Michael’s character died yet again, as the session came to an end. Michael looked at the scoreboard, where, as per usual, Ray was in first, Michael towards the bottom of the rankings. Michael threw his controller onto the floor. “Motherfucker!”

“Michael, being a poor sport.” Ray said, a stupid grin on his face.

“Fuck off.” Michael groaned before getting up. He grabbed two more beers, grip tight on both bottles as he went back to his spot on the floor by Gavin. Michael handed one beer to Gavin as he plopped onto the floor. He quickly untwisted the bottle, throwing the bottle cap onto the floor behind him before taking a rather large gulp of beer.

“Thanks Michael.” Gavin smiled sheepishly.

“Y-Yeah.” Michael hoped the flush he felt on his face was just the alcohol kicking in again.

~

Michael felt something warm lean on his left shoulder, and, when there was a lapse in the events happening in the current round, glanced down, eyes quickly flitting back up. Michael avoided the impulse to flinch, feeling a small flush on his face. Without Michael noticing, Gavin had decided to curl up his body to Michael’s, his head resting on Michael’s shoulders. Gavin’s ridiculous hair tickled at Michael’s chin and cheek, and Michael could feel the heat radiating off of the man.

Michael let out a breath, deciding to focus on the game at hand. He’d fallen behind, currently even lower than Kerry, and he needed to remedy that as soon as possible. Ray glanced over to Michael, smirking before wiggling his eyebrows. Michael sent a glare Ray’s way, hoping it would be the same as flipping Ray off. Ray merely chuckled in response, turning back to the game. Lucky for Michael, Miles and Kerry’s gazes were fixated on the screen in front of them, remaining relatively ignorant of the scene at hand.

A few hours later, Michael felt Gavin’s head grow even heavier on his shoulder, and turned away from the current round they were playing to look down at Gavin. Gavin’s eyes were heavy, his movements on the controller becoming more sluggish.

Goddammit.

The round ended a minute later, Ray taking second, surprisingly, while Michael took fourth, Miles and Kerry taking fifth and sixth, while Gavin took last, the other players they were sharing the round with taking the ranks between. Michael pulled out his phone as Miles and Kerry deliberated what form of game they’d play next.

Shit. Was it really that late already?

Michael looked over to Gavin, whose eyes were fluttering in a way that Michael refused to say was endearing.

“Ray, uh,  you wanna head out?” Michael asked.

Ray pulled out his own phone. “Dude, it’s only two!”

“Well, um, if you want a ride home, I’d say let’s go.” Michael replied.

“Come on-” Ray looked over to Michael, smirking as he saw the scene at hand. “Oh, I see.”

Miles and Kerry turned away from the screen, seeing the position Michael was in. Goddammit.

“Well?”

Ray snickered. “Yeah, let’s go.” He turned to Miles and Kerry. “We’ll see you guys later.”

Michael tapped at Gavin, seeing the man slowly get his head off Michael’s shoulder, shooting a questioning look Michael’s way. “Come on. We’re heading out now.”

Gavin nodded as Michael got up, Gavin’s own steps much more languid than Michael’s own.

“Yeah, we’ll see you guys.” Kerry replied.

“You guys gonna come over anytime soon?” Miles added.

Michael shrugged, turning to make sure Gavin wasn’t going to fall over. “Er, um, yeah. Maybe. I’m not sure.”

Ray chuckled. “I’ll drag him over here if he gets too antisocial again.” Ray added, “He might not have to worry about that anymore, though.”

Michael glared at Ray, who burst into laughter yet again. Ray opened the door, holding it open as Michael walked out, carefully watching Gavin’s movements to make sure the man didn’t suddenly fall over. Once they were walking down to Michael’s car, Michael had wrapped his arm around Gavin’s shoulder in an attempt to steady the man’s movements.

“How’s Sleeping Beauty over there?” Ray asked.

“He’s still awake,” Michael said. “Well, I think so.”

“‘m awake.” Gavin replied, words slightly slurred.

“Oh my God,” Michael tightened his grip on Gavin’s shoulder when it felt like he was going to fall over.

“Is he drunk or just really tired?” Ray asked, a snicker in his voice.

“Both?” Michael’s voice hitched.

Michael let out a sigh of relief when they had reached his car. He maneuvered Gavin into the front, the man being of little help to Michael’s cause. Ray was of no help either, quietly chuckling to himself as he slipped into the back seat.

“Right,” Michael sighed. “To Gavin’s.”

\---

Michael and Gavin were currently sat on Michael’s bed, an array of papers and the physics textbook laying out in the space between them.

“So, how the hell does this work again?” Michael asked, pointing to the diagram in the textbook.

“It’s kinda simple, actually.” Gavin began to explain the inner workings of thermodynamics, easily breaking the topic down to the simplest of terms. Michael’s gaze poured over the diagram in front of him, eyes widening as the gears clicked into place.

“Holy shit.” Michael shook his head, glancing back to Gavin. “That actually makes sense.”

Gavin chuckled. “Glad I could help.”

Michael felt his face flush, and turned back to the notebook sat in his lap. He scribbled the tidbits of Gavin’s explanation in the margins surrounding the notes he had taken from class.

“Isn’t your major in film?” Michael asked. “I didn’t think you’d be so good at crap like this.”

“Yeah, it is.” Gavin replied. “But, I dunno, stuff like this comes sort of easy to me?” He shrugged.

“I’m definitely jealous.” Michael stated. “This semester of physics is trying to fucking kill me.” He sighed as he glanced over the next few pages in the textbook. “I really should be able to understand this stuff better seeing how I actually want to go into electrical engineering.”

Gavin shrugged. “You can’t be perfect at everything.” Gavin glanced over, and Michael felt immature at his disappointment at Gavin’s words, and how that emotion was probably all too obvious on his face. “You’re a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for.”

“...Thanks.” Michael turned back to his textbook.

Out of the corner of his eye, Michael saw Gavin scoot across the bed, the bed springs faintly creaking before he curled up to Michael. Gavin’s arms wrapped around Michael’s waist, and Michael almost subconsciously wrapped an arm around Gavin’s shoulder.

Michael had learned a couple weeks after him, Gavin, and Ray had gone out to Game Night that Gavin could be a pretty clingy bastard. Gavin especially loved to curl up next to people, legs pulled close to his body, or practically draping himself over someone. It had taken Michael about a week to get used to it.

Something about this time seemed...different. Whenever Gavin tried to cuddle up to people, it was always light-hearted, something that was probably residual of how he was raised as a kid. This was a lot different, though. As Gavin rested his head on Michael’s shoulder, hair tickling at Michael’s cheek, there seemed to be some sort profound emotion hidden just beneath the surface of the atmosphere between the two of them.

Michael looked down to Gavin, and saw Gavin’s eyes staring back at him. Gavin’s gaze was more piercing than usual, that same hidden emotion Michael felt in the room mirrored in Gavin’s eyes. Michael felt himself caught in Gavin’s gaze, a faint flush on his face.

Michael found it in him to quickly look away, looking back to the notes in his lap. The words on the paper had no significance now, Michael viewing them as just scribbles on a piece of paper. Gavin remained silent beside him, his eyes idly glancing around the room.

Well. It’s official.

Michael let out a breath.

Michael Jones was in love with Gavin Free.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm a bit too busy to post a lot of writing beyond this fic, but I do like to post writing on my Tumblr.


	6. Michael Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As per usual, my beta is amazing, go check him out [here](http://archiveofourown.org/users/coleander/pseuds/coleander).

Michael couldn't stop fidgeting. Either his foot was tapping rhythms at random on the linoleum floor, or his fingers tapped against the desk he was sat in. Ray shot Michael confused glances throughout the lecture, and Michael felt as if Gavin’s eyes had wandered to him occasionally.

Professor Haywood’s lecture came to an end, and Michael felt a wave of relief wash over him, soon replaced by a sense of dread.

He just needed to ask Gavin a simple question. He was just going to ask if Gavin would like to go out to dinner with him. It wouldn’t be that bad. It’s not like he was asking for a long-term relationship; he just wanted to see if he and Gavin were even the slightest bit compatible.

It was just a question.

Michael gulped.

Shit, this was gonna be hard.

Michael shook his head, realizing he had been frozen more than a few seconds, and started shoving his notebook and textbook into his backpack. He slung the bag over one shoulder, turning to Ray and Lindsay.

“Er, I’ll see you guys later?” Michael said sheepishly, glancing back to Gavin, who was in the midst of putting his stuff away.

Ray raised an eyebrow before realization came onto his face. He glanced back to Lindsay, the pair sharing a satisfied look. Michael avoided the impulse to groan.

“Yeah man, we’ll see you.” Ray replied before him and Lindsay walked away, already sharing hushed conversation.

Michael turned back to Gavin, who was staring at him, a questioning look on his face. Michael blew out a breath.

Alright. Let’s do this.

“Er, Gavin?” Michael asked, stumbling through his words than he probably should. “Can, I, uh, ask you something?”

“Yeah, shoot.”

“Um, not here, please.” Michael replied nervously.

Gavin slowly nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Michael and Gavin walked away from the throng of people still in the lecture hall, walking in silence until they found a bench sat in the hallway. Michael glanced around the hall, letting out a sigh of relief when there was no one around. The pair went to sit on the bench.

“Listen, Gavin-” Michael started.

“I’ve been thinking about something-” Michael and Gavin stated simultaneously. Michael’s eyes widened.

“Er, sorry, you speak first.” Michael said sheepishly.

“No, you go.” Gavin replied.

Michael let out a breath. “Gavin, um, I’m not asking for anything big, but, uh...”

Michael groaned internally. Goddammit. This shouldn't be so hard to say.

“Would you, er, like to go out sometime?” Michael finally let out,

Gavin smiled a smile that showed a combination of happiness and relief.

Wait. was he going to...?

“I’d love to.”

Michael felt his heart stop. Huh. He wasn't sure if he had expected that to happen.

“Oh.” Michael paused. “Um, er, that’s awesome. Do you, um, have anywhere you’d want to go?”

Gavin shrugged. “I still haven’t been to many restaurants here since either Griffon cooks, or we get take away from places nearby. So, anywhere you like would be awesome.”

Michael paused, trying to think of good local restaurants to go out to. “You mind me picking you up around 7:30? I don’t know where’d we go out for now, but I’ll think of somewhere.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Gavin smiled another lopsided smile, and Michael felt his face flush.

God. Would he get over that smile anytime soon?

Gavin glanced down at his phone. “Oh, I’m sorry Michael, I’ve got to go to my job right now.”

Michael pulled out his phone. “Oh shit, I have class in ten minutes.”

“I’ll see you later tonight?”

Michael nodded. “Ye-yeah, I’ll see you tonight.”

Gavin flashed another smile before walking away.

~

Michael was currently sat at a stoplight, phone pressed to his ear.

“Pick up, pick up...” Michael muttered the phrase under his breath again and again.

“S’up?” Ray asked, appearing to be talking with a full mouth.

“I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing.” Michael replied nervously.

“What?” Ray asked. “Wait, wait. Is it about this afternoon?”

“Er, yeah.”

“Did you ask Gavin out?” Ray asked bluntly.

Michael sighed, unsure of how to respond.

“Fuck yeah!” Ray exclaimed. “Me and Lindsay are twenty bucks richer!”

“Wait, what?!” Michael’s grip on the steering wheel tightened.

“Me and Lindsay made a bet with Miles and Kerry about when you’d guys finally start dating. Miles and Kerry both thought you’d wait for at least another month, but Lindsay and me thought you’d get together within the next week.”

“Wait, why the fuck were you making a bet with Miles and Kerry of all people?”

“Dude, the bet was set up the morning after Game Night,” Ray replied. “You don’t think those two noticed how lovey-dovey you two were getting as the night went on?”

“Dude, that wasn't lovey-dovey.” Michael gritted his teeth, refusing to acknowledge that he’d started blushing.

Ray laughed heartily. “Oh man, you couldn't be more full of shit right now.” Ray let out a breath. “Really, though. You’re not making a mistake.”

“I feel like I’m gonna fuck something up.”

“Nah man, you’ll do fine.” Ray said reassuringly. “So, you think there’ll be a kiss after the first date?”

“Oh my God.”

“Well?”

“Dude, I don’t know,” Michael snapped. “Hell, I don’t know if we’ll even survive the first date.”

“Like I said man, you’re gonna be fine.” Ray replied. “Besides, if I hear word that you back out, I won’t hesitate to bust into your apartment to knock some sense into you.”

Michael tittered. “I’d like to see you try.” Michael glanced up. “Hey, I’m at Gavin’s place. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah man, see ya. Hope I get some of the juicy details.”

“Ugh.” Michael hung up the phone, hearing strands of Ray’s laughter right before it cut out.

Michael glanced up to the driveway, where a silver BMW was parked. There were lights on inside the small two-story house, though there wasn’t any movement towards the front door.

Michael let out a breath.

He’d have to go up to the front door, wouldn't he?

Michael sighed again. He didn't realize he’d been thrust back into high school.

Michael got out of his car, leaving it idling as he walked up to the front door. He heard the sounds of some sort of shooting game before he knocked at the door. The game was paused seconds after Michael knocked, and he heard bare feet pad on what might have been a wooden floor before the door opened.

The man who opened the door was not Gavin. At all. The man had the beginnings of a beard, and tattoos peeked out from the white t-shirt he was wearing, and spread down to his hands, where there were a few small tattoos. His eyebrow was raised, the expression on his face easily portraying his confusion.

“I-is Gavin, um, home?”

The man’s head tilted briefly before realization came onto his face. “Gavin, you've got someone waiting at the door here for you!”

Gavin ran up the door, a smile lighting up his face. “Michael!”

“Hey Gavin.”

“I didn't realize you were gonna be here.”

“Uh, dude, it’s almost eight.”

Gavin pulled out his phone. “Oh.”

Michael quietly laughed, a small smile on his face.

“Gavin, is this lover boy?” The man turned to Gavin.

Michael’s face paled.

“Er, yeah.”

“Ah.” The man turned back to Michael. “Michael right?” Michael nodded. “I’m Geoff. I’m Gavin’s host parent while he’s in America.” Geoff turned back to the house. “I think Griffon’s-”

A woman who Michael assumed to be Griffon walked up a few feet behind Geoff and Gavin. She had blonde hair which was buzzed off on one side, and sported tattoo sleeves that were similar to Geoff’s, and a silver septum piercing.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding about him being a lil cutie.” Griffon stated, a small smile on her face. Michael gulped. Exactly how much did these people know about him? “I’m Griffon, by the way.”

“Mi-Michael.”

“Nice to meet you, sweetie.” Griffon turned to Gavin. “Well, you can take our Gavin away.” Griffon added, “All I have to say is that I work with chainsaws for a living.” Griffon still had that small smile on her face, though it had _very_ different connotations now. Geoff merely nodded in response, wrapping an arm around Griffon’s shoulder.

Michael gulped. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Well, you two have fun.” Geoff chuckled, turning to peck Griffon on the cheek before the two walked back to the living room.

Gavin closed the door behind him as he and Michael walked back to the car. Michael let out a breath as Gavin got into the passenger’s seat. Michael started up the car, pulling away from Gavin’s house.

“Your host parents are very...protective.” Michael said after the two had sat in silence for a while.

“Yeah, I think they’ve really come to care for me.” Gavin replied. “It’s, er, it’s pretty nice.”

Michael wasn’t sure what to think about what Gavin had said, instead hesitantly replying, “I-I can see that.”

Gavin chuckled. “They’re nice people. I’m pretty sure they like you too, they just wanted to tease you.”

“Alright.”

Gavin smiled. “So, where are you taking us exactly?”

“Trudy’s,” Michael replied. “Is that, is that fine?”

“It sounds like it’d be a nice place, so, yeah.” Gavin stated. “I trust in your taste in restaurants.”

“Th-thanks.”

~

It had taken about 20 minutes, but Michael and Gavin were currently sat at a booth towards the back of the restaurant, close to the kitchen. There were few people in this part of the restaurant, and Michael wasn't sure if he wanted to curse the hostess or thank her. Michael let out a breath, distracting himself with the menu sat in front of him. Gavin currently was very focused on the menu, hands gripping the sides, making the menu just obscure his face. Michael already knew what he wanted to get, he just wanted to use the menu as a way to cover up the fact that any sort of conversation topics had disappeared from his thoughts, making him unsure of what exactly to talk about.

Gavin lowered the menu slightly. “Do you like anything in particular here?”

Michael blinked, abruptly being pulled out of his daze. “Um, er, pretty much everything’s good here. I like most of the burritos here.”

Gavin hummed, gaze going back to the menu. Michael began to fidget. When the hell was his beer getting here?

The waitress, a girl with straight brown hair, black and white glasses perched on her nose, came up to Michael and Gavin’s table, a smile on her face.

“Sorry that took so long,” The waitress said with a twang of a foreign accent, placing the pint of beer by Michael’s right side. “Have you guys figured out what you’ll be having tonight?”

Michael folded up the menu, placing it on the table. “Er, could I have the Beef Fajita Chipotle burrito?”

Gavin’s eyes pored over the menu for a few more seconds before placing it on the table. “I’ll have the same thing.”

“I’ll have that right out.” The waitress smiled before walking away.

Gavin flashed the girl a smile, and Michael got annoyed at the tinge of jealousy.

God, he was childish.

As Michael took a sip of his beer, he realized that thinking about food couldn't be a distraction anymore. Unless he wanted to sit in silence with Gavin, he’d have to think about _something_ to say. Michael let out a breath, trying to think of the things talked about a first date.

Of course, those sort of topics were too weird for people who’d been friends for more than three months.

Gavin beat Michael to the punch, saying, “You know, I’d been thinking about how I could go about asking you out for a while now.”

Michael almost choked on the sip of his beer he’d taken. “Wait, what?”

Gavin smirked. “I couldn’t think of a way that I could ask that wasn’t too cheesy or too elaborate. I feel like a moron that I hadn’t considered just asking like you did.”

Michael chuckled. “I didn’t realize you were one for elaborate plans.”

“I’m not,” Gavin stated bluntly. “I usually like to get straight to the point. But, I dunno, that didn’t feel like enough to ask someone like you.”

Michael felt his face turn bright red. “O-oh.” He shook his head. “Yeah, I, er, a-after the study session we’d had last Friday, I-I was wondering how I could get the balls to actually ask you out.”

Gavin smiled. “I guess I was kind of having the same problem.” He paused. “I’m glad that you asked before me, though. It kind of confirmed some things I’d been wondering about you.”

“Yeah, um, you accepting my offer also confirmed some things I’d thought about you, too.”

~

Michael realized that he had drunk a bit too much. Despite the date becoming a lot less awkward, Michael ended up downing three pints of beer in the span of about an hour-and-a-half. Gavin had drunk as well, though he only had one beer over the same amount of time.

Michael and Gavin were walking out to the car, and though Michael knew that he wasn't drunk enough to not be able to drive, he definitely was still drunk. Throughout the walk, Michael could feel how dizzy he was, feeling as if he could fall at any second.

And, of course, the universe decided to embrace this opportunity.

Michael’s steps had brought him closer and closer to the curb of the sidewalk, and when one foot stepped just off the edge of the curb, he’d fallen flat on his face.

“Shit.” Michael groaned.

“You okay, Michael?” Gavin had a hand held out, a concerned look on his face.

“Ye-yeah.” Michael grabbed Gavin’s hand without too much thought, grunting as he got back up. “Er, thanks.”

“Yup.”

Gavin still was holding Michael’s hand, a shy smile on his face, before Gavin intertwined his fingers with Michael’s.

Michael hoped the blush on his face was from the alcohol.

Michael and Gavin’s hands fell back to their respective sides, and as they continued to walk, Gavin gently squeezed Michael’s hand. Michael turned to look at Gavin, a small smile on his face before he gingerly squeezed Gavin’s hand in return. The way Gavin’s face lit up was the most enchanting thing Michael had ever seen.

~

Michael blew out a breath. “Well, we’re here.”

“We are.” Gavin replied, a tinge of what Michael thought was disappointment in Gavin’s voice. “This was really nice. Thanks, Michael.”

“Ye-Yeah, no problem.”

Gavin’s eyes remained fixated on Michael, a pondering expression on his face. It took Michael a few seconds to realize that Gavin’s face was indeed inching close to his own.

Was he going to... Fuck. No, no, please-

Gavin pressed his lips to Michael’s cheek, pulling back a few seconds later, a lopsided smile on his face. “Could we do this again in a week or so?”

“Uh, um.” Michael faltered. “Ye-yeah. Yeah, w-we can.”

“Top.” Gavin’s smile widened. “Good night, Michael.”

“Night.”

Michael watched Gavin get out of the car, waving to Geoff when he appeared at the front door. Michael lingered in the driveway a few seconds longer, a hand pressed to his cheek. His face was lit up, and he felt as if all of the heat in his body had concentrated on the spot his hand was pressed to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you didn't know, I have a [Tumblr](http://oceannanotoceania.tumblr.com/). It's probably too early to say this, but I'm totally cool with accepting prompts. The thing is tho is that I'm gonna be working on this for a month or so, and then I have a long one-shot I'm gonna do, so, yeah. It'll take a while to get to them. :'D


	7. Gavin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As per usual, my beta is rad as hell, go check out his writing [here.](http://archiveofourown.org/users/coleander/pseuds/coleander)  
> Also, since I know there are some people on here who aren't necessarily here from Tumblr, I just wanted to add this note here as well: the rating for this fic is _not_ being bumped in order for there to be a sex scene between Michael and Gavin. The way I've characterized Michael is an ace who's repelled by sex, and I'm abiding by that characterization. However, the real reason for bumping up the rating will be revealed in the next couple of chapters. Anyways, hope you enjoy! :3

_Shit._

Gavin glanced around the hall crowded with people, hoping to find any sort of signs that would tell him exactly where the hell he’d ended up. All he knew for sure was that he was nowhere near Burnie’s room.

Gavin let out a breath. Of course. Leave it to him to get completely lost even though he’s been at this university for almost three bloody months now.

Gavin bumped into some blonde-haired girl, mumbling a “Sorry love.” to her as he walked away.

“Wait.” A familiar voice called. “Gavin?”

Gavin turned around, confronted with a recognizable face.

Oh.

“Barb?” Gavin asked, bordering some sort of exclamation.

“I’m surprised you remember me.” Barbara walked over to Gavin, grip tightening on the two textbooks she was carrying.

“I’m good with remembering faces.” Gavin replied. “Well, sometimes.”

“I didn’t know that you went to this school.”

“Well, technically, I don’t. I’m a foreign exchange student.”

“Oh.” Barbara replied, a coy smile on her face. “Works out for me then.” Gavin fiddled with the strap of his messenger bag. “Look, um, I’m really sorry that I had to blow off having drinks with you back then. Um, if you’re not too busy, do you wanna go out sometime?”

Gavin gulped. No. He couldn’t do this.

“Er, Barb, listen, you’re lovely, and frankly, I might have said yes under different circumstances but,” Gavin let the words flow from his mouth. “I have a boyfriend.”

Barbara’s eyes widened. “...Oh. I, I didn’t realize that you were gay.”

“I’m not. Well, not really.” Gavin shrugged.

“So, uh, how long have you two been dating?”

“About a week.”

“That’s not very long at all.” Barbara said bluntly. “I didn’t take you for the kind of guy who’d get serious so quickly, much less get so serious at all.”

Gavin shrugged. “Like I said, things are different.”

“Do you love him?” Barbara replied not a second after Gavin spoke.

Gavin blew out a breath. The way he felt for Michael couldn’t exactly be love, but, it was a lot more than the relationship had between friends. “Honestly, I don’t know. Maybe.”

Barbara’s face fell. “Oh. Yeah, uh, I get it.” She paused. “Was it, was it that guy from the club I’d seen you with? The cutie with the curly hair and the freckles?”

Gavin couldn’t help smiling at Barbara’s description. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s him.”

Barbara slowly nodded, briefly turning away from Gavin. “I shouldn’t be too surprised. Just, know that if you and that guy-” She shook her head, and Gavin had a feeling that he’d be able to complete Barbara’s thought. “N-nevermind. I’ll, um, see you later?”

“Maybe.” Gavin gave a small wave before walking away.

\---

“So, where exactly am I supposed to be taking us?” Michael asked, glancing over to Gavin.

The pair were sat in Michael’s car, which was currently at a standstill in front of a stoplight.

“You’ll see,” Gavin replied with a smirk.

“Oh God.” Michael rolled his eyes. “I am gonna be alive after this date, right?”

“What?” Gavin raised an eyebrow.

“Dude, I’ve known you for a while, but I still wouldn’t put it past you to abruptly reveal yourself to be a murderer or some shit.” Michael said bluntly. “Who knows, maybe you have a rap sheet back it the UK.”

Gavin tittered. “I don’t have a rap sheet, you donut.”

“Still not used to you using words like that,” Michael snickered. “Food can hardly be considered a cuss word.”

Gavin shrugged. “It’s a habit I picked up before I got into uni. Oh yeah, turn left here.”

Michael rolled his eyes, going from the very right lane to the left lane so that he could actually turn left. Gavin suppressed a chuckle when he realized his mistake.

“So, when the hell are we getting to this place?”

“We’ll be there soon.” Gavin replied simply.

“So descriptive.” Michael rolled his eyes.

“Oh, there, turn right here!” Gavin pointed to a small, dirty looking shopping center.

Michael raised an eyebrow. “Alright.” He turned into the complex, and Gavin directed him over to a small building that was the cleanest of all the buildings here.

Michael and Gavin got out of Michael’s car, slamming the doors shut. Michael glanced up at the sign, squinting his eyes.

“Jones’ Arcade,” Michael looked back to Gavin. “You took me to an arcade for a date?”

“Er, yeah.” Gavin replied sheepishly.

Gavin wondered how much he’d fucked up.

“Why?” Gavin added.

“Hell yeah.” Michael smiled. “Let’s go inside, dickie bitch.”

Gavin couldn’t help smiling as well, going over to grab Michael’s hand. Michael gulped, hesitantly intertwining his fingers around Gavin’s own.

They walked into the arcade, Michael’s eyes flickering around the place. The arcade was surprisingly empty, only a few teens and college-aged people flitting between the games. There was a surprising amount of them, consoles lining up flush next to each other. There were games that ranged from the eighties or late seventies into the present.

“How are you guys doing today?” A man with black hair that was slicked to the side asked. He was wearing a black t-shirt and a gray hoodie, green headphones loosely wrapped around his neck.

“Er, fine.” Michael replied.

“How many coins are you guys gonna want?” The man asked.

“How much are they each?”

“Each game costs one or two coins. It’s five dollars for twenty-five.” The man replied.

Michael glanced over to Gavin, who shrugged in response. Michael grumbled, rolling his eyes.”

“We’ll take twenty dollar’s worth.” Michael let go of Gavin’s hand, pulling out his wallet and placing two tens on the glass table.

The man grabbed the tens off the table, tapping button on the cash register before it flew open. He placed the money in there, slamming it shut with his hip before leaning over to grab the bags of coins that Gavin could tell were situated on a shelf below the table. The man handed over the two small bags that were filled to the brim with coins.

“Have fun.” The man replied simply before turning back to the entrance, fingers tapping idle rhythms on the glass table.

Michael and Gavin wandered over to the back wall of the building, where most of the games were situated.

“Where the hell do we start?” Michael replied, eyes flitting across the room.

Gavin grabbed Michael’s hand, pointing to some large consoles closer to the left side of the building.

“Gavin, what the-”

“Let’s go over there, Michael!”

Gavin sped over to the set of consoles, Michael sputtering in response as he was dragged along. Gavin held back the want to laugh at Michael’s confusion, more fixated on getting to the game before anyone else.

“Gavin, it just looks like a standard zombie shooting game.” Michael stated as he leaned over to insert the two coins needed to play the game, and sat onto the small red stool behind him.

Gavin shrugged, shoving the two coins into the slot. “It looked like fun.”

Michael raised an eyebrow, quietly giggling. “And you could tell that a mile away from the thing?”

Gavin rolled his eyes, joining in on Michael’s giggling as they started the game.

Gavin was very soon reminded of the fact that he was greatly outmatched when it came to playing games with Michael. On any of the co-op shooters the pair of them played, it seemed like Gavin spent more of the time dying than actually getting many kills. Despite this, Gavin tried to maintain some amount of dignity while he played, even if he ended up killing himself during a game every other second. If nothing else, any time Gavin did something he knew was completely moronic, and ended up dying within a game, it was worth it to see the smile that came onto Michael’s face as he burst into laughter, how his dimples made his expression look all the more charming.

Within in a little under two hours, Gavin had completely drained his coins.

“Really, man?” Michael raised an eyebrow as Gavin continued to look through his empty bag. Michael held up his own bag, which was still a little under a third of the way full. “Really?”

“I guess I drained it.”

“I can see that.” Michael appeared to be holding back a smile. “It’s what you get for dying all the time like a goddamn moron.” He pulled out his phone, glancing at the time. “Shit, we’ve been here a while haven’t we?” Michael shook his head. “Look, let’s split the last of the coins that I have; we should probably be leaving sometime soon, unless we wanna spend all of our goddamn money.”

Gavin balled up the empty plastic bag. “Thanks Michael.”

Michael nodded, briefly turning away. “Ye-yeah. Whatever.” He let out a small breath. “Alright asshole, what next?”

Gavin smiled.

~

“Well, here we are.” Michael stated.

Gavin glanced up to the front door of his house. “Ye-yeah.” He paused. “Er, Michael, you wanna meet up for one last study session sometime before the test in Physics?”

“Shit yeah.” Michael replied immediately after Gavin asked, his cheeks flushed red.

Gavin smiled. God, he’d never get over how cute it was when Michael was flustered.

“Er, um, this unit has been fucking me over a lot.” Michael added.

“Alright. Um, I’ll text you when I think we should meet up, yeah?”

“Yeah, uh, that works.”

The pair fell back into silence. Gavin glanced back to the front door of his house. He really didn’t want to go; he wanted to stay with Michael. He didn’t have much of an idea of what they could do now, though.

“I’ll guess, um, I’ll head out now.”

Gavin turned to open the door, suddenly feeling Michael grip his wrist. Gavin turned to Michael, whose eyes were fixated on Gavin.

“Gavin, um,” Michael let out a shaky breath, making Gavin feel like it was taking Michael a lot of effort to speak. “C-Can I kiss you?”

Oh.

He hadn’t been expecting to hear that at all.

Gavin gingerly took his hand out of Michael’s grip, intertwining his fingers with Michael’s own.

“Of course.”

Michael gulped, eyes flickering across the car before inching his face closer to Gavin’s. Michael’s hand reached out, timidly caressing  Gavin’s cheek. Gavin closed his eyes, feeling the heat from Michael inch closer. Seconds after, Michael pressed his lips to Gavin’s. Gavin parted his lips further, and Michael did the same.

There was no tongue, no thrusting of fingers into hair, no battling for dominance in the kiss. It was just a simple press to lips, just Michael’s hand gingerly holding Gavin’s cheek.

Gavin thought it was the best kiss he’d ever had.

The kiss lasted what felt like hours, and despite that, Gavin felt like it hadn’t been long enough when Michael parted lips with Gavin. Gavin opened his eyes, staring into Michael’s own. Michael gave a chaste press to Gavin’s lip, pressing a kiss to Gavin’s cheek.

Michael paused a couple inches from Gavin’s face. Michael’s eyes darted around the car, expression bordering unsettlement in his eyes. Gavin felt a look of concern come onto his face as he watched Michael.

Michael let out a breath, resting his forehead on Gavin’s. Gavin kept his eyes fixed on Michael’s face, watching the unsettlement fade in Michael’s face. Michael slowly looked up to Gavin, a timid smile on his face. Gavin couldn’t help beaming in response.

“I’ll see you in class?” Gavin asked softly.

“Er, yeah.” Michael murmured in response. “I’ll see you.”

Gavin reached his free hand out, brushing Michael’s cheek. He held back the impulse to kiss Michael, instead separating his hand from Michael’s own, turning to the passenger door, and getting out of Michael’s car.

He paused in the driveway, hearing Michael’s sedan drive away. Gavin lifted one hand, and pressing a few fingers to his lips, a small smile on his face.

Gavin shook his head, and walked up the driveway.

\---

The hot water poured down Gavin’s back, water dripping down his hair and along his nose. Gavin had a hand pressed against the shower wall, teeth gnawing on his lip, biting back a moan as he slowly stroked his cock.

God. Gavin bit back another breathy moan as he brushed the slit of his cock. He hadn’t done anything sexual in months, and he could feel how desperately he’d needed to do this.

As Gavin’s strokes grew faster and longer, the fantasies in his mind whirred at random, picking noteworthy bits of porn Gavin had watched in the past, eventually focusing on one thing.

Michael was beneath Gavin, his face flushed, eyes looking away from Gavin as he let out loud breathy moans when Gavin’s cock brushed Michael’s prostate.

Michael’s moans got louder and louder, eventually screaming when he cums. Gavin bit down on his lip, just hard enough to draw blood, before he cums into his hand.

Gavin grabbed a washcloth, drenching the thing with soap before scrubbing his body with the cloth. He washed the soap away a few seconds after.

Gavin remained in the shower as the water that beat against him grew ice cold. He panted, still feeling the adrenaline of his orgasm coursing through his veins.

He felt wrong. He felt corrupted.

It didn’t feel right to fantasize Michael that way. Even though he knew that he really liked Michael, something about that fantasy didn’t feel right.

Gavin shut the water off, getting out of the shower, and drying himself with the towel.

What Barbara had said about him was true, though. Save for Michael and Dan, forever ago, Gavin was not the type to have serious relationships. At all. Even with the girls he’d dated after Dan, the relationships never lasted more than a couple weeks, or, maybe, a month. And Gavin could hardly call those relationships; it was more like friends with benefits, if anything.

Gavin let out a breath. What made Michael different, then?

Gavin’s mind flickered back to the kiss they’d shared last night. It was amazing, how such a simple thing had left such an impression on him.

Gavin changed into the jeans and t-shirt he had set out, exhaling a sigh.

He knew the answer to his question.

Gavin Free was in love with Michael Jones.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I have a [Tumblr.](http://oceannanotoceania.tumblr.com/) I'm not posting much in the way of writing on there rn, (though I wrote some shiz for the Juggey wedding), but feel free to check it out. While I can't guarantee getting to them soon because of finals and a couple of fics I'm working on, including this one, but I'm totally cool with accepting prompts and shiz, if you wanna leave one. :3


	8. Michael

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As per usual, my beta is hella rad, you should go check out his writing [here.](archiveofourown.org/users/coleander/pseuds/coleander)

“Alright,” Michael flopped onto his bed, flipping the textbook open to a page that had practically every word highlighted, small scribbles written in the margins. He placed his notebook in his lap. “Let’s get this started, then.”

“Yup.” Gavin mumbled. He walked over to the small desk in Michael’s desk, pulling the rolly chair over to the edge of Michael’s bed.

Michael couldn’t help raising an eyebrow as Gavin tilted the textbook slightly towards him.

Michael felt a tinge of disappointment at the lack of contact, soon replaced with slight realization.

Wow. He’d really gotten used to how clingy Gavin was, hadn’t he.

Michael pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, the wonder of what the hell was going on with Gavin coming to the forefront of his mind.

“Er, are you alright?” Michael hesitantly asked.

Gavin glanced up from the textbook. There was a hint of some emotion in Gavin’s eyes, something that Michael couldn’t exactly place. “...Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” Gavin shook his head. “Um, what did you need help with?”

Michael frowned.

Something was wrong.

Michael wasn’t sure what he could do about it, though, so he glanced down to his textbook, scanning the page. “Here.” He placed his finger on the section that had the most words highlighted.

Gavin glanced back to the textbook, eyes flitting as he skimmed through the section. “Oh. That’s pretty simple, actually.” Gavin broke down the topic, the weird emotion from before disappearing from his eyes.

Michael concentrated on Gavin’s explanation half-heartedly, thoughts of exactly what was wrong with Gavin coming back into his mind.

\---

Professor Haywood’s lecture came to an end after what felt like an eternity. Michael hastily packed his textbook and notebook, glancing over to Gavin, who was already beginning to walk towards the doors of the lecture hall.

Michael hurried towards Gavin, tapping the man on the shoulder once Michael had reached him.

Gavin turned around, and Michael noticed had quickly Gavin had tensed up. Michael held back the impulse to frown.

“Oh, Michael,” Gavin faltered. “What’s up?”

Michael let out a breath. “Do, do you wanna come over for Game Night tonight? Ray’s been hounding me for the last week about coming over, and I think it’d be better if I had someone I actually liked to be there with me.”

“N-No,” Gavin replied quickly. “I’ve, I’ve got a lot of work piled up today. Burnie needs some help with preparing all of the equipment for this major project the beginning film class is about to tackle.”

“A-ah.” Michael ignored the urge to sigh. “Alright. Um, do you wanna come over and play stupid video games this weekend, then?”

Gavin shook his head, a slight frown on his face. “I’ve got a lot of homework I’m gonna need to work on. It’s my fault for taking a lot of advanced classes.”

Michael frowned, noticing what appeared to be some amount of regret in Gavin’s eyes. “Alright. Um, I’ll see you later, then?”

“Yeah. Bye Michael.” Gavin’s tone bordered on cold at the statement.

Gavin turned back around, quickly walking out of the lecture hall.

Michael tried to ignore the void he felt in his mind.

He let out a breath, turning back to Ray and Lindsay, who were at the bottom of the middle staircase. Ray glanced over to Michael as Michael walked over to the pair of them.

“Is Gavin gonna be able to come to Game Night?” Ray asked as soon as Michael had walked up.

“No. He uh, ” Michael sighed. “He has a lot of work today.”

“Ah,” Ray frowned. “Sorry man.”

“Ye-yeah.” Michael shook his head. “I don’t think I’m gonna make it today, anyways. I’ve got work pretty early tomorrow.”

Ray appeared to hold back a remark, instead replying, “Yeah. Alright. Um, hope you and Gavin make it next month.” Ray shook his head. “I’ll see you guys later, then?”

“See ya.” Michael and Lindsay replied.

Ray gave a half-wave before walking away from Michael and Lindsay.

“Something’s on your mind.” Lindsay stated not even a second after Ray had walked away.

Michael sighed. “It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?”

“Dude, it’s been obvious for the last two weeks.” Lindsay’s tone shifted to something more sincere as she asked, “Mind telling me what’s up?”

“To be honest, I’m not sure I exactly know what’s up.” Michael mumbled. “He’s uh, he’s been acting pretty weird for, well, the last couple of weeks.” Michael paused. “So, I’m not sure if it’s obvious, but Gavin’s a pretty affectionate fucker.”

Lindsay had a small smile on her face. “Yeah, I noticed it pretty quickly.”

“He’s nothing like that recently.” Michael confided. “And, frankly, I don’t have the faintest idea why.” Michael added, “Have you talked to him at all recently?”

“Not beyond hello and goodbye.”

Michael slowly nodded. “Of course. So you have no idea what the hell’s going on with him too, then?”

“Yup.” Lindsay replied bluntly. “Look, see if you can talk to Gavin sometime soon, alright? I’m sure it’s not gonna be anything like he’s getting tired of you.”

Michael’s eyes widened, holding back the wave of anxiety that had come over him.

Wait. It couldn’t be. Sure, it could explain why the hell Gavin had been so distant, but, it can’t be that. Wasn’t it too early to...

Michael shook his head, letting out a small breath. Lindsay frowned slightly, regret in her expression. “Ye-yeah. It probably isn’t that.”

Lindsay pulled out her phone, the frown appearing on her face again. She pocketed her phone before wrapping her arms around Michael. Michael stiffened at the sudden contact, arms awkwardly held out, before he gingerly wrapped them around Lindsay.

“I hope you guys get this shit resolved soon.” Lindsay mumbled besides Michael’s ear.

“Yeah. I hope so too.”

~

“Hello?” Gavin replied after the third ring.

“We need to talk.” Michael’s words fell much less harsh than he had expected.

“Alright, shoot.” Gavin replied simply.

Michael rolled his eyes. “No, w-we need to talk in person.”

There was little noise on the other end of the phone, the only sound heard the rustling of papers. “Y-Yeah, we do.” Gavin paused. “Can I come over?”

“Alright, I’ll go-”

“No, don’t worry about it, I’ll have Geoff take me over.”

Michael blew out a breath, feeling a hint of relief. “Alright. See you in a bit, then.”

“Ye-yeah. I’ll see you.” Gavin replied, hanging up a few seconds later.

Michael tried to speak, the unsaid words becoming nothing more than a small hush. He let out a breath, pushing the words to the back of his mind.

Michael went to sit on the couch, leg twitching up and down, eyeing the just visible clock on the microwave in the kitchen.

Precisely twenty minutes later, Michael heard a knock at the door. Michael hastily got up off the couch, suppressing the want to fling the door open. Gavin was stood just outside the door, a nervous smile on his face.

“Hey.” Gavin said gingerly.

“Hi.”

“Can I come in?”

Michael shook his head, opening the door wider. “Yeah, sorry.”

Gavin gave a quick nod of his head, walking inside. Michael closed the door behind.

Gavin’s eyes darted around the apartment.

“Huh.” Michael raised an eyebrow at Gavin’s statement. “I never expected your apartment to look like this.”

Michael sniggered. “Alright.” His glance alternated between the kitchen and the living room. Michael nodded towards the dining room table. “Let’s have a seat.”

Michael and Gavin went to sit at the dining room table, Gavin sitting across from Michael.

Michael let out a breath. “What the hell has been your deal for the past couple of weeks?”

Gavin had a small smirk on his face. “I figured you’d ask that.” Gavin paused, appearing to gather his thoughts.

“A, a bit after our date at the arcade, I, uh, I got off to a fantasy I’d had about you.”

Michael’s eyes widened. “Wh-what?”

“It felt wrong, it felt so bloody wrong.” Gavin briefly hid his head in one hand. “And, I, I realized something.” Gavin gulped. “I love you, Michael.”

Michael gulped, eyes flickering across the room.

“I-I didn’t mean to say that.”

“N-no. It’s, it’s fine.” Michael blew out a breath. “I love you too.” Michael paused. “I had realized that a while ago.”

Gavin had a relieved smile on his face. “Glad to see we’re on the same page then.”

Michael chuckled. “Yeah.”

Gavin quickly shook his head. “I need to ask, Michael, do you want to have sex?”

Michael looked away from Gavin, a grimace on his face. “Gavin, I’m, I’m asexual.”

“Oh.” Gavin stated after a few seconds, a look of surprise on his face. “That means you’re a prude, right?”

Michael snickered, placing his head in one hand. “Jesus. Being ace doesn’t automatically mean you don’t want to have sex, just that you don’t feel sexual attraction.” He paused. “But yeah, in my case, I’m repulsed by sex.”

Gavin slowly nodded. “Wh-when you’d figure that out?”

Michael frowned slightly, eyes flickering to the ceiling.

That was a pretty loaded question.

“I think I always knew, to an extent.” Michael let out a breath.

Fuck it.

“Back in highschool, I dated Lindsay from freshman year to the first semester of junior year.” Gavin’s eyes widened slightly. Michael tittered. “Yeah, I guess it could kind of be a surprise.”

“Why’d you break up?”

Michael let out a breath. “In short, she pushed my boundaries. And, in pushing my boundaries, she made me realize how I felt about sex.”

“It made sense to me once I had figured it out, anyways. Towards the end of eighth grade, back when the guys at made school figured out that porn was a thing, I decided to watch a bit. And, frankly, I thought it was fucking disgusting. All of the fluids...” Michael shivered, quickly shaking his head. “And then, at the same time, you had all the guys who were fixated on getting girls to give them head. It was the same deal: I wasn’t exactly big on the idea.”

“I’ve always thought girls, and, well, later on guys, were cute. My views on affection have changed a lot over time, but the idea of being able to have a romantic relationship with someone has always been appealing to me.”

Michael glanced over to Gavin, whose expression was unreadable to Michael. Michael raised an eyebrow.

“Have I scared you off, now?” Michael asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Gavin shook his head, the expression disappearing from his face. “No. No, I was kinda focused on the whole not liking porn thing.”

“Oh my God.” Michael rolled his eyes, tittering to himself.

Michael shook his head. “So, you still want to be together?”

Gavin’s expression shifted from worry to something illustrating Gavin’s endearment for Michael. “Of course, Michael.”

Michael briefly looked away from Gavin, a faint flush on his face. “I, I know that I’ve learned a lot more about you since we became friends and shit,” Michael glared at the smirk Gavin had on his face. “But, I thought you were the type to always want sex from people you were into.”

Gavin slowly nodded, letting out a breath. “Until about a year before I’d graduated, that had been the case. I dated plenty of birds because I wanted to have sex with them,” Michael raised an eyebrow at the word. “And, naturally those relationships wouldn’t last more than about a month.”

Gavin gulped. “But, then Dan happened.”

“Dan and I had been friends for practically our whole lives. As soon as we both had started school, we almost always ended up in classes together. We were the closest friends either of us had.”

Gavin paused, gaze flickering around the room. “But, that last year before A-levels, he confessed how he felt about me, how he’d loved me for practically as long as we’d been friends.”

“It’d taken me a week, but I realized that I felt the same way.” Gavin had a look of nostalgia on his face. “As soon as I told him I’d felt the same way, we started dating.”

“Dan had decided to join the army, while I chose to go to uni. We’d decided pretty early on that our time together would be limited to that year; both of us knew that something like long-distance wouldn’t be able to keep us together. And, with that in mind, we’d decided to make the best of the time we’d be able to have together.” Gavin paused. “And, well, despite the fights we’d get into, how we’d avoid talking for a week before we swiftly made up, it really was one of the best years of my life.”

“The last day we’d had together was one of the worst days I’ve had in my life. We lived about half a kilometer from the airport that would take him to boot camp, so we decided to walk together to it. The walk felt like it’d taken an eternity.” Gavin chuckled, a bittersweet look on his face. “Our goodbye felt like it’d been cut short, though. Dan only had time to give me a quick kiss on the lips, and a promise that he’d write to me.”

Michael eyes were wide. He’d never expected something like this from Gavin.

“Did he ever write?” The question poured from Michael’s mouth without any time for the boy to think about it.

That same bittersweet smile came onto Gavin’s face. “We’d written back and forth for a while. But, between my uni work, and his duties as he officially became an officer, we fell out of touch.”

“After that, I’d fallen back into my old habits. And, since then, I haven’t really had any significant relationships. Well, not until I met you.” Gavin stated with a gentle smile.

Michael felt a flush on his face. He really didn’t expect Gavin to be like this.

“Dan and I did have sex,” Gavin added. Michael was caught by surprise at the abrupt change of topic. “Plenty of times, actually. And it was amazing, I’ll be honest. But, if you don’t want to have sex, we won’t have sex.” Gavin added, “I love you, Michael. I could never push you to do something that you were uncomfortable with.”

Michael gulped. “So, what, you’ll just live without sex?”

Gavin tittered quietly. “No, actually, these past couple of weeks has taught me that I really can’t live without it. I’m too horny for that.” Gavin chuckled before adding, “But, I know that something like jacking off won’t be enough for me.”

“So, you want to stay with me, even though you know I’ll never want to have sex, but at the same time, you can’t live without sex?”

Gavin nodded.

Michael groaned, eyes widening when an idea of how to compromise coming to his mind.

Could it work?

“I, I think I might have a way to make both of us happy.” Michael finally said. “And, frankly, it’s probably the weirdest fucking thing I’ve thought of.”

Gavin couldn’t help chuckling. Michael joined in, quietly sniggering.

Michael shook his head. “So, basically, I’ll let you have sex with other people. I won’t be weird and pick out the people you’re allowed to have sex with, or where you need to pick people, because really, I don’t give a shit who you have sex with, as long as I don’t see it.” Michael added, “I’m serious about the not seeing, though. That’s really the major rule we’d have in this...arrangement.” Michael let out a stifled laugh. “I really have no idea what the fuck we’d call this.” Michael shook his head. “So, um, you think it’s a good idea?”

Gavin slid a hand across the table, gently grabbing Michael’s hand before intertwining his fingers with Michael’s own. Michael’s eyes widened, the surprise he felt at the warm gesture quickly fading.

God. He’d really missed this.

“This is probably the weirdest idea I’ve ever heard, but yeah. It sounds top.”

Michael tittered at the word. He gave Gavin’s hand a quick squeeze, noticing the tender smile on Gavin’s face. Looks like Gavin had missed this as badly as Michael had.

“Alright, then. I guess this’ll go into place tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got a [Tumblr](oceannanotoceania.tumblr.com), in case you didn't know. I've got some writing there, and I'd love it if you dropped me a prompt or two. :3


	9. Gavin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks be to my beta Zeke, you should go check out [his writing](archiveofourown.org/users/coleander/pseuds/coleander).

Gavin let out a breath, glancing over to the dancefloor. The lights here were much more muted, the colors only varying shades of grays and blues, nothing like the club he’d gone to all those months ago.

Gavin shook his head, pushing away thoughts of the place where he’d first met Michael. Thoughts of the boy wouldn’t help Gavin in this situation. Instead, Gavin thought about exactly how sex-starved he’d felt, how he couldn’t remember the last time he’d even slept with someone.

The pair of shots Gavin ordered appeared at his side, and Gavin looked back to the bar when he heard the subtle clink of the glasses. He flashed the bartender a smile, the girl giving him a coy smirk in return before walking back to get orders from customers on the other side of the bar.

Gavin dragged one of the shot glasses closer to him, a light grip on the glass as he watched the girl walk away. He couldn’t help noticing how tightly fit the bartender’s black jeans were, how they perfectly accentuated her curves. Gavin shrugged half-heartedly to himself. She was attractive, though not really what Gavin was looking for. But, frankly, Gavin had no idea what the hell he was even looking for.

Gavin shook his head, knocking back the shot he had in hand. As Gavin put down the empty shot glass, he let out a small sigh, feeling the alcohol begin to buzz inside, filling him with a small amount of warmth. Not even a second after he’d taken the first shot, Gavin knocked back the next one, the idle buzz he felt getting more intense.

Gavin’s gaze flickered between the bar and dancefloor. He shrugged, grabbing a few bills and throwing them onto the bar before making his way to the dancefloor.

The people here, amazingly, weren’t clumped together as one gigantic mass on the dancefloor. There was actually some breathing room as Gavin slipped his way through the smaller groups that were interspersed throughout the dancefloor. Gavin couldn’t help a small smirk when he saw that this was another club that held all sorts of couples, noting that there were even more trios dancing together than he’d ever seen in a club.

Gavin flitted from person to person, trying to find someone of note. Just as Gavin had begun to wonder if this was really the best place to choose to go, he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist.

Gavin easily sank into the stranger’s touch, feeling his arse butt up against someone’s jeans,

Gavin smirked. This was a rather cheeky man, wasn’t he?

The song had changed from rather standard club dance music, to something more like trance, the beat initially hard to find. Despite that, the pair soon fell into a rhythm, their bumping and grinding perfectly in sync.

“Hello, stranger.” Gavin mumbled.

He heard a snicker by his ear, the breath that ghosted Gavin’s ear making him blush slightly.

“Nice accent.” The person who was, indeed, a man replied.

Gavin chuckled. “Cheers.” He licked at his lip. “Isn’t this a bit forward for someone whose face I haven’t even seen?”

“Then turn your head.”

Gavin looked over to where the voice was coming from, slightly surprised by what he saw.

The stranger had perfectly spiked black hair, and Gavin couldn’t quite tell if he could the seam of a wig along the man’s forehead. His eyes squinted slightly due to the smirk on his face.

“I see that you’re as gorgeous as I thought you’d be.” The stranger’s hands slid down from Gavin’s waist, grabbing at Gavin’s hips before pulling Gavin closer.

Gavin grinned, rutting up against the man. “I could say the same thing about you.”

The man leered at Gavin. “Monty.”

“Monty.” Gavin smiled at the name. “I like that. Gavin.”

“I like your name as well.”

Monty slid one hand up Gavin’s chest, Gavin squirming slightly when Monty brushed against one of Gavin’s nipples, before grabbing at Gavin’s cheek, pulling Gavin into a rough kiss.

Gavin stiffened initially, unsure of how to act against the foreign sensation before closing his eyes, and parting his lips. Monty smirked against Gavin’s lips before snaking his tongue into Gavin’s mouth. The bumping and grinding between the two of them slowly diminished, the act of kissing coming to the forefront of both Gavin and Monty’s minds.

Gavin let out a breathy sigh, relishing in the sensations he promptly realized how desperately he’d missed.

Monty nipped at Gavin’s lip, Gavin letting out another moan, before Monty parted lips with Gavin. Monty nipped at the lobe of Gavin’s ear before pressing his cheek flush with it.

“My apartment’s only a block away.” Monty murmured, hand rubbing idly up and down Gavin’s chest. “How about we ditch this old place?”

Gavin smirked. “Let’s.”

~

Gavin couldn’t hold back a snicker as him and Monty fell onto the rather plush, queen-sized bed. Monty tittered as he climbed back on top of Gavin, placing one hand by Gavin’s head, the other caressing at Gavin’s jaw, before capturing Gavin into another kiss, as rough as the one the pair had shared at the club. Gavin let out a sigh of pleasure as he parted his lips, Monty’s tongue snaking its way into Gavin’s mouth. The kiss was messy, but Gavin couldn’t help letting out another sigh of pleasure.

Monty parted lips with Gavin, nipping at the man’s upper lip before pressing his lips along Gavin’s lower jaw, leaving a trail of kisses down to the man’s neck. Gavin let out a moan as Monty bit at a sensitive spot along Gavin’s neck, lathing the spot with his tongue.

Monty leaned back, trailing a hand under Gavin’s shirt. Gavin leaned closer into the pillow beneath his head, getting up just enough from the bed to take off his shirt, throwing the garment onto the floor near the bed. Monty eyes widened slightly.

Gavin raised an eyebrow. “You alright?”

Monty shook his head. “Yeah. Just wasn’t expecting that.”

Gavin snorted. “I’ve heard that plenty of times before.”

“Doesn’t make much of a difference to me.” Monty stated before leaning over Gavin’s body again, trailing kisses down Gavin’s clavicle and chest. Monty licked one of Gavin’s nipples, one hand trailing up Gavin’s waist before idly tracing circles around Gavin’s other nipple. Gavin groaned, hands gripping the white sheets beneath him, leaning closer into the bed. Monty snickered, nipping Gavin’s nipple before looking up to the man.

“You’re sensitive.” Monty stated, a smirk on his face.

“And you’re moving too slow for my taste.” Gavin replied.

Monty tittered. “Why are you in such a hurry?”

Monty pressed his body more flush to Gavin, Monty’s stomach pressing up against the erection that strained against Gavin’s pants. Gavin bit his lip, holding back another moan.

“I-I haven’t exactly had a shag in a while.” Gavin subconsciously began to rut against Monty’s stomach.

Monty sniggered. “Easy tiger. We’re getting to the main event soon.”

Monty promptly resumed kissing down Gavin’s chest, stopping right above Gavin’s hips. The man worked at Gavin’s zipper, Gavin reaching down to peel off his pants and boxers, and throwing them onto the pile of clothing that had accumulated right beside the bed.

Monty leered, wrapping his hand around Gavin’s cock. Gavin hissed as Monty slowly pumped the man’s cock.

Monty paused, the look in his eyes appearing to ask if Gavin was okay with this.

Gavin looked away from Monty, pressing his head into the bed.

“Please.” Gavin asked, voice bordering a moan at the word.

Monty nodded minutely. The man licked at the head of Gavin’s cock, teasing at Gavin’s slit. Gavin let out another moan in response, grip tightening on the sheets balled in Gavin’s hands. Monty continued to lick at Gavin’s head for a brief period of time before engulfing Gavin’s cock with his mouth.

Gavin’s eyes widened.

Oh God.

While Gavin had never exactly been the type to worry about not being able to hold back an orgasm, Gavin had more trouble with it than he probably should.

Monty’s head bobbed up and down Gavin’s cock. Gavin moaned, grip tightening in the sheets as his head craned closer to the ceiling.

Gavin gripped Monty’s hair, pulling at the man’s hair, and Gavin felt Monty moan around his cock.

Gavin’s eyes squeezed shut, a fantasy coming to his mind.

Michael’s mouth was wrapped tight around his cock as he moved up and down and down Gavin’s cock, occasionally stopping to lick at the head of Gavin’s cock, tonguing the man’s foreskin.

Gavin heard a zipper be undone, the movements along his cock pausing as he heard Monty hiss slightly as his hand began to pump his own cock. Not even a second later, the actions along Gavin’s cock resumed.

The vision in Gavin’s mind grew more vivid, the moans he heard becoming Michael’s own as Michael worked at his own cock, still using that obscene tongue of his along Gavin’s cock.

Gavin tightened his hold on what he pictured to be Michael’s curls tightening as he thrusted into Michael’s throat a few more times before finally cumming.

Gavin’s orgasm hit him like a wave, his hips thrusting as his orgasm rocked through him before he relaxed against the bed. Gavin felt the warmth leave his cock, hearing faint grunts before Gavin heard one last moan.

Gavin’s eyes flew open as he was snapped back to reality. He looked up to Monty, whose pants were as ragged as his own.

Monty pressed an abruptly tender kiss to Gavin’s lips before falling back onto the bed. Gavin remained staring at the ceiling, pushing away the thoughts of Michael that came with so gentle a kiss. The pair lay in silence, the only sounds between them their loud panting.

Monty turned over on his side, propping his head on one hand. Gavin noticed Monty rub his other hand against the sheets. “Are you going to want to stay here for tonight?”

Gavin shaked his head, suddenly pulled out of his thoughts. He let out a breath. “...No, actually. I’d rather not.”

Monty nodded. “I understand.” He gestured towards a white door in the left corner of the room. “Shower’s there, if you want. I can give you a ride home, if need be as well.”

Gavin sat up, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw his clothes heaped into a pile on the floor near his side of the bed. He grabbed the boxers off the floor, quickly pulling them on as a wave of modesty rushed over him.

Gavin began to throw on the rest of his clothes, feeling a tinge of disgust when he felt how the sweat and grime clung to his body. Despite that, Gavin was not too enthusiastic at the prospect of delaying his departure from Monty’s apartment.

“I’ll be fine.” Gavin replied, pulling out his phone when he had finished getting dressed.

“And you won’t need a-”

Gavin flashed Monty his phone. “I’ll have my friend pick me up at the club.”

Monty nodded. “Alright.” Monty paused, appearing to be unsure of what else to say.

Gavin cut into Monty’s train of thought, awkwardly replying, “Cheers.”

As Gavin walked away from Monty’s apartment, he pulled up his text messages. He tapped on Michael’s, a small smile on his face as he scrolled through the ridiculous messages the pair had exchanged. He scrolled back down to the bottom, tapping as he begun to compose a message for Michael, before quickly shaking his head.

What the hell was he doing? Michael didn’t want anything to do with this.

Gavin blew out a breath, going back to pull up Geoff’s messages.

 

_I need a ride._

 

Gavin’s phone buzzed a few seconds later.

 

_Kk. Be there in fifteen._

\---

Gavin lay in bed, gaze staring up at the ceiling. His knees were curled up close to his body, one foot idly tapping against the bed. He had one arm draped across his forehead, and let out a breath as his thoughts continued to whirl around the thing that had been nagging him for the past three hours.

Could he actually go through with this arrangement?

Gavin continued to fixate on the fantasies he’d had about Michael, how the idea of having sex with Michael was more appealing than having casual sex with some stranger.

Gavin sighed, briefly studying the imperfections in the drywall that made up the ceiling.

He couldn’t continue this sex with complete strangers if Michael was always on his mind. And, since he couldn’t just have sex with Michael instead, he’d have to...

Gavin quickly shook his head. He could never do that. At least, not willingly. His relationship with Michael had been one of the best things that had happened to him in his life, even better than his relationship with Dan.

Gavin sat up, looking over to his bedroom.

One last time. He’d try to find someone one last time. If he still couldn’t push Michael out of his mind, he’d have to bring this arrangement to an end. And, if it meant breaking up with Michael, then he’d have to do it.

Gavin let out a breath.

Hopefully the universe would work in his favor.

~

Gavin still wasn’t quite sure why he’d decided to go to a bar instead of a club. Though, frankly, it didn’t matter, so long as the place had good bevs.

The bartender walked over, who had muscles that appeared to strain against his black t-shirt, his hair dark brown and spiked. Though he might not be his type in the end, he couldn’t help thinking the guy was rather attractive.

“Cheers mate.” Gavin flashed a flirtatious smile.

The man nodded his head in response, appearing to be impervious to Gavin’s flirtations.

Gavin glanced down to the pint he had ordered. Well, he’s obviously straight. Gavin couldn’t help thinking it was a waste; that sort of attractiveness should be something that people of all genders should be able to enjoy.

Gavin shook his head, taking a swig from his pint. He turned in the tan barstool, glancing around the bar. There weren’t many people currently in the bar, only a few groups that had three or four people congregated together, though there was group made up of five people.

Gavin’s eyes soon landed on one person in particular. The girl was sat alone, the pint of beer in front of her practically untouched. She was currently focused on her phone, an expression of disappointment on her face.

Frankly, Gavin thought she was beautiful.

She had straight, bright red hair, wisps of hair falling to the sides of her face. She had glasses on, the black frames relatively thick. She had on a gray t-shirt, just tight enough to accentuate her curves.

Gavin turned back to his pint, taking a swig that was likely larger than necessary, before migrating from his place on the bar.

He paused just in front of the booth the girl was sat in, seeing that her gaze was still fixated on her phone.

“Hello.” He finally said.

The girl looked up from her phone, an expression of both surprise and disappointment on her face.

“Oh.” The girl replied. “Hi.”

“You mind if I sit here?” Gavin asked, pointing to the section of the booth that was across from her.

“Ye-yeah, go ahead.” The girl placed her phone on the table, and took a sip of her beer.

Gavin flashed a smile, slipping into the booth. He took a swig of his own beer before placing it in front of him.

Hopefully this went well.

“I-I’m Meg.” The girl stated hesitantly.

“Gavin.” The man replied simply. “So, Meg, you alright?” He pointed to Meg’s phone.

Meg glanced down to her phone, letting out a small breath. “A few of my friends from California were supposed to meet up with me. They haven’t really texted me anything, so I don’t really know if maybe their flight got delayed, or if they just... forgot.”

“I was really looking forward to this, honestly. I haven't seen them in years, and, hopefully, I’ll actually be able to see them again.” Meg grabbed her phone, pocketing the thing before taking a swig from her beer.

“Shit,” Gavin said. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Not much you can do about it.”

“True.” Gavin paused. “Well, I hope meeting me will make your night.”

Meg smiled. “Actually, yeah, I think it will.”

~

Gavin practically slammed the door shut before taking Meg over to his bed, pushing her back onto it.

Gavin leaned over, pressing his lips against Meg’s, hand caressing her cheek. Gavin nipped at Meg’s upper lip, the girl letting out a small moan before she parted her lips. The pair kissed lazily, Gavin keeping one of his hands propped near Meg’s head, the other trailing up and down Meg’s waist.

Gavin parted lips with Meg, pressing a few kisses along Meg’s cheek and jaw, before Gavin leaned over, lightly nipping at Meg’s earlobe.

Meg fidgeted slightly, letting out a breathy sigh.

Gavin tittered. “Sorry.”

“Y-Yeah. It’s fine.”

Gavin paused before he kissed a light peck to Meg’s lips. He kissed along Meg’s jaw once more, and trailed kisses down to Meg’s neck.

Gavin nipped at Meg’s neck, lathing each bite with his tongue. Meg let out a moan, each one louder than the other.

Gavin trailed a hand under Meg’s shirt, hand brushing up Meg’s belly. Meg glanced down at Gavin’s hand before leaning back up, and helping Gavin work off her shirt. Gavin pressed another wet kiss to Meg’s mouth, wrapping his arms around Meg as he worked off the girl’s bra. Once the thing had come off, Gavin threw it onto the floor, the garment joining Meg’s shirt on the floor.

Gavin smirked as he nudged Meg back onto the bed. He kissed along Meg’s collarbone, one hand feeling around the edge of Meg’s breasts.

God. He’d missed how women felt beneath him, how it felt to touch their soft curves.

Gavin began to move down Meg’s chest, pressing kisses the way down.

“Gavin-”

Gavin’s head shot up, looking towards the source of the voice. In his peripheral vision, he saw Meg lean up slightly.

_Michael?_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you didn't know by now, I have a [Tumblr](oceannanotoceania.tumblr.com). Feel free to leave me a prompt. :3


	10. Michael

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My beta Zeke is really awesome, you should go check out his stuff [here.](archiveofourown.org/users/coleander/pseuds/coleander) Maybe hound him to update his most recent fic. :P

Michael went through his backpack for what felt like the twentieth time. He held back the impulse to throw the bag across the room, instead slamming it down with a bit more force than was probably necessary.

Goddammit. Of course he’d fucking lose his textbook.

Michael groaned. Where the fuck would he have left the damn thing anyways?

He had it for class a couple of days ago, and he was pretty he still had it when he left class. Which means...

Oh.

He’d left it at Gavin’s, hadn't he?

Michael let out a groan. Goddammit.

Michael pulled out his phone, about to send a text Gavin’s way, when he looked at the time.

Shit.

Michael grabbed his keys off the dining room table, quickly pocketing his phone and keys before leaving his apartment. The thought of sending Gavin a text was thrown to the back of his mind as Michael fixated on the fact that he’d have to haul ass if he wanted to get to work on time.

~

Michael slammed the car door shut, and started the car. He kept the car idling briefly as he sent Gavin a text saying that he was coming over to grab his textbook, and placed the phone on his dashboard as he pulled out of GameStop’s parking lot.

Throughout the drive, Michael kept glancing to his phone, which was uncharacteristically silent. While Michael never wanted to act like some crazy, overly attached boyfriend, he couldn't help feeling some amount of concern when Gavin, who was normally pretty prompt about replying to texts, had yet to reply to him.

Should he have even come over?

Michael glanced up to Gavin’s house, pausing a few feet away from Gavin’s driveway.

Well he was here now, so might as well go in.  

Michael pulled out his phone, glancing at the clock, realization setting in of exactly late it was.

Oh. Well shit.

Michael shook his head, pocketing his phone before parking his car. He got out of the car, and walked up to the front door.

He glanced in the windows next to the phone, noting how dark it was inside.

Hesitantly, Michael knocked on the door. When there was no response, Michael glanced around the entrance, letting out a breath before looking under the welcome mat, finding that there was, indeed, no key hidden there.

Great.

Michael groaned, about ready to go back to his car, when a rather stupid idea came to mind.

Michael slowly turned the knob of the front door. The door opened, slowly revealing the parts of the living room and kitchen that could be seen while at the entrance.

Oh. Did these people not know about security?

Michael shook his head, closing the door before flipping the switch near the front door, flooding the small foyer and living room with light. He heard no sort of feedback, and let out a breath before he walked down the hallway that would take him to Gavin’s room.

Michael paused just outside the door, raising an eyebrow when he could hear something muffled by the door.

Michael pushed away his hesitation, instead grasping the doorknob before letting the door fall open.

Promptly, Michael realized exactly why he shouldn’t have done that.

Gavin was in the middle of kissing the chest of some girl he’d never seen before, Gavin lightly grasping the girl’s breast.

Gavin looked up from what he had been preoccupied with, his face quickly falling.

Michael froze in the doorway, his tongue caught in his throat.

What. The. _Fuck?_

Michael was soon pulled out of his shock-induced haze, the emotion promptly being replaced with a mixture of rage and jealousy.

“What the fuck?” Michael asked harshly, clenching his fists.

Gavin sat up, putting his hands out. “Mi-Michael, look-”

“I don’t wanna fucking hear it.” Michael glared at the girl, gritting his teeth. “You.”

The girl fidgeted, a flush that Michael hoped was mostly caused by embarrassment on her face.

“You need to leave.” Michael stated.

The girl glanced over to Gavin, who promptly got off her. The girl got off the bed, quickly throwing on her bra and shirt. As she started to walk away from Gavin, she shot the man a look of confusion. Gavin had a look of what appeared to be something between regret and guilt on his face.

The girl quickly shook her head, and Michael moved out of the way as the girl left the room. Michael waited until he heard the front door close before he shot Gavin another glare. The look on Gavin’s face seemed to portray more fear than it had previously.

“Gavin,” Michael started, trying to make his voice sound more calm than he actually felt. “What the hell did I tell you about this arrangement?”

“Michael, I, I didn’t realize you were gonna be coming over-”

“You ever think to check your goddamn phone?” Michael growled.

Gavin glanced around the room, walking over to his desk, and grabbing the phone that sat on his table.

Gavin appeared to pull up his text messages, his face paling a few seconds later.

“Of fucking course.” Michael hissed. “The one time I follow through with one of my fucking weird-ass ideas, this happens.” Michael sighed. “I’m leaving.”

“Michael-”

“Goodbye, Gavin.” Michael said, his voice taking on a more bitter tone.

Michael walked out of Gavin’s house, slamming the front door shut. He ignored the fact that Gavin had followed Michael out to the driveway, the man pausing there as Michael pulled away from Gavin’s driveway.

\---

Michael walked up the center staircase, feeling some amount of relief when he saw that the seat next to Lindsay was, as per usual, empty. He plopped into the seat, throwing his bag onto the floor in front of him. Michael ignored the looks of concern Lindsay and Ray shot him, instead leaning over to pull out his notebook.

Michael gazed around the room, letting out a sigh.

“M-Michael?”

Michael shook his head, pulled out of his daze, and turned to his right. Gavin was stood there, a hesitant look on his face as he held out a textbook.

“You forgot this.”

Michael nodded, grabbing the textbook.

“Thanks.” Michael said, his voice flat.

Gavin flashed a weary smile before he headed over to his normal seat, squeezing in between the front of the desks and the backs of the desks in the row below them to get to his own seat. Gavin gave a small wave to Lindsay and Ray, quietly letting out a breath as he sat down.

Michael’s gaze was fixated on the still-empty podium at the front of the lecture hall, feeling the eyes of Lindsay and Ray on him. Finally he glanced over to Lindsay and Ray, the irritation in his eyes appearing to be just enough to make the pair of them look away from Michael.

Michael ultimately glanced over to Gavin, who was incredibly fidgety, eyes flickering around the room, appearing to be unable to focus on one spot.

Michael shook his head, opening his textbook as he heard Professor Haywood walk into the room.

~

Michael gathered up his stuff, carelessly shoving his things in his backpack before slinging the bag over one shoulder. He gave a small wave to Ray and Lindsay before walking down the center staircase.

Michael raised an eyebrow when he heard footsteps walking after him, and turned to face the source of the noise.

Which is how Lindsay ended up slamming into him, practically knocking Michael off his feet as she wrapped her arms around him. Michael shoved against Lindsay, promptly giving up when he realized exactly how tight Lindsay’s grasp on him was.

“Jesus,” Michael huffed out, still trying to get air back into his lungs. “What the hell, man?”

Lindsay placed her chin on Michael’s shoulder, replying, “You don’t need to tell me what happened between you and Gavin, okay?”

“The hell are you talking about?”

Lindsay tittered. “You’re so full of yourself.” She paused, hugging Michael tighter. “It’s pretty obvious that something happened to you guys.”

Michael didn't respond, instead quietly sighing.

“I’m right, aren't I?”

“Yeah. Yeah, you are.”

Lindsay’s grip on Michael tightened slightly, and Michael wrapped his arms around Lindsay, hugging Lindsay as tightly as she was.

“I hope you guys get this figured out soon, alright?”

“Me too.”

\---

“What’s up?” Ray asked.

“Hey, uh, can you come over?” Michael asked.

Ray paused. When he spoke, his voice had a knowing tone. “Yeah, give me a couple minutes.”

Michael hung up, throwing his phone onto the couch. He got up, wandering over to the fridge. Michael let out a breath, grabbing a couple of beers from the fridge before wandering over to the couch again.

The doorbell rang, and Michael paused briefly, breathing in and out once before going over to open the door.

“Man, you look like shit.” Ray said bluntly.

“Nice to see you too.” Michael replied with a glare.

Michael opened the door wider, closing the door as Ray came into Michael’s apartment.The pair wandered over to the couch, and Michael flopped onto the couch, immediately cracking open one of the cans of beer. Ray merely glanced over to Michael as Ray sat down.

“So, what happened?” Ray asked almost immediately.

Michael sighed, wishing he didn't have to immediately talk about the subject.

Hey, he signed up for this, so he might as well spill it.

Michael took a quick swig of his beer.

“Me and Gavin had this...arrangement.” Michael started. “Since I refused to have sex with Gavin,”

Ray began to open his mouth, promptly shutting it, and shaking his head.

“I decided that he could have sex with other people, so long as I didn't see it.”

“So, what, you caught him?” Ray asked.

Michael nodded. “Yeah. I had left my textbook at Gavin’s, so I had decided to come over. I left him a text, but he never replied to it.” Michael sighed. “I shouldn’t have ever gone over.”

“But, I had decided to come over anyways. The lights were off at his house, and the door was unlocked, which was pretty weird. But, like a dumbass, I decided to go inside anyways.”

“So, when I came over to Gavin’s room, I opened the door to see him in the middle of having sex with some chick.” Michael paused. “And, I don’t know, I just, flipped out.”

Ray shrugged. “Hey, I’d do the same thing if I caught my partner sleeping with some other person.”

“No, it’s not just that though,” Michael added. “Yeah, I was pissed off that he didn't fucking follow the arrangement we’d made, but, I was mad for a lot more than that reason.”

Michael glanced over to Ray, who had an expression that goaded Michael to continue talking. Michael took another swig of his beer.

“Frankly, I’m starting to wonder if I’m actually enough for him.” Michael glanced down to his beer. “I mean, I was fine with setting up this arrangement, but, what if it’s not enough for him? What if he wants to be with someone who can give him everything he needs?”

The look of concern on Ray’s face was replaced with a more stern emotion. “Michael Jones, you’re a fucking idiot.”

Michael looked over to Ray, eyes wide.

“Dude, has Gavin ever told you that he didn't think you were enough? That he’d rather be with some other random chick, dude, whatever, than you?”

“Uh, no.”

“Then he’s perfectly fine with you.” Ray let out a breath, a more genuine emotion coming onto his face. “Look man, there’s a reason why me and Lindsay have taunted you about getting with Gavin ever since we first saw you guys together. You guys have always...clicked.”

“As someone who’s had a dry streak for practically his entire life,”

Michael couldn't help a quiet snicker at the statement.

“I've seen plenty of relationships in the past that have gone to complete shit, and it was always ‘cause they didn’t have...it. This, spark, I guess you could call it. You and Lindsay had something damn near close to it, but, I can see that it’s nothing like what you and Gavin have.”

Michael took another gulp of his beer, pausing before he let out a breath. “Well, what the hell do I do now?”

“Fucking apologize,” Ray replied bluntly. “Figure this shit out somehow.” He paused. “Just, don’t do anything you don’t want to do.”

“And I should go about that how, exactly?”

“Fuck if I know. You know the guy better than me, you’ll find a way.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” Michael replied.

“Good.” Ray glanced to the door. “You want me to go?”

Michael nodded. “I think I’ve got an idea of what I wanna do.”

“Alright.” Ray got up. “I’ll see you once this shit blows over, alright?”

“Yeah, see ya.”

Ray flashed a smile before he left Michael’s apartment.

Michael grabbed the half-full can of beer, chugging the rest of the thing down before he got up to throw away the empty can and put back the unused can of beer.

Michael wandered back to the living room, flopping onto the couch. He let out a breath before pulling out his phone.

Michael pulled up his calls, browsing through his contacts until he found Gavin’s number.

Michael inhaled and exhaled once, finger hovering over the call button.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you didn't know, I have a [Tumblr.](oceannanotoceania.tumblr.com) I don't really have much writing actually posted there, but if you send prompts my way, I'll definitely have more drabbles posted there. :3


	11. Gavin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to my beta Zeke for making this sound rad, you should go check out [his writing.](archiveofourown.org/users/coleander/pseuds/coleander)

Gavin glanced around the lecture room, eyes stopping when he saw where he normally sat. He gulped, noticing the change that had happened there.

Michael was sat next to Lindsay, currently rummaging through his bag. Both Lindsay and Ray were shooting Michael uneasy glances.

Ray looked towards the front of the lecture room, eyes widening slightly when he saw that Gavin was stood by the lecture hall door. Gavin gave a small wave before heading up the center staircase.

Gavin paused right by the row, looking down at Michael, who was sat on seat away from the center.

“Mi-Michael?”

Michael shook his head before looking over to Gavin.  His eyes widened briefly before his expression changed to one that bordered distasteful.

“You forgot this.”

Michael nodded, grabbing the textbook.

“Thanks.” Michael replied with a monotone.

Gavin smiled tentatively, and went over to his normal seat, feeling like he might trip as he squeezed in between the front of the desks and the backs of the desks in the row below them to get to his own seat. Gavin gave a small wave to Lindsay and Ray, quietly letting out a breath as he sat down.

Gavin’s eyes flickered around the lecture hall, leg beginning to idly bounce up and down.

God. He really didn’t want to be here.

Frankly, the only reason he’d even come to class in the first was because he needed to go over to Burnie’s room in a couple of hours. If it weren’t for the fact that the second-year students need to use the new equipment that had just come in, Gavin probably would have tried to convince Burnie to allow him not come to work in the first place.

Professor Haywood’s entrance and lecture was ultimately just enough of a distraction to push any thoughts about Michael and the future of their relationship out of Gavin’s mind.

~

“Where did you need this again?” Gavin asked, grip tight on the new camera that was still in the case that it’d been shipped in.

“Over there, numbnuts.” Burnie pointed to a table on the right side of the room. “That’s the third time I’ve had to tell you that.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Gavin replied as he walked over to the table.

It took Gavin two seconds too long to realize that the case he was carrying had fallen out of his hands. The case clattered to the ground with a loud crack, the sound pulling Gavin out of his thoughts.

“Jesus!” Burnie ran over to Gavin, kneeling down on the ground. Gavin shook his head before doing the same.

Burnie turned the case right-side up, running his fingers along the seam where the case would open.

“Well, I don’t feel any major cracks.” Burnie looked over to Gavin. “You gotta be careful, man. You’ve worked with these Phantoms before, you should know how fragile and fucking expensive these things are.”

“Yeah, I know. I-I’m sorry.” Gavin grabbed the case, and got up to place the camera on the table.

Burnie sighed. “You got something on your mind, man?”

Gavin let out a sigh that matched Burnie’s own. “Yeah, I do.”

Burnie glanced to the entrance of his classroom, seeing that the door was closed. “Alright. Mind telling me?”

Gavin bit at his lip. “I started dating this guy over a month ago. He told me that he wasn’t that into sex, so we set up this arrangement. And, well, I broke one of the rules.”

Gavin let out a breath. “And now, I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”

Burnie slowly nodded. “Leave.”

Gavin’s eyes widened. “What?”

“You’ve got shit to resolve,” Burnie pointed to the entrance. “You should leave early.”

“Wait, am I fired?”

“Hell no.” Burnie replied bluntly. “You know what the hell you’re doing a lot more than my grad students, there’s no way in hell that I’m gonna let you go.”

“But, you’re no good if you’ve got this crap weighing on your mind. So, go home; you can come back once you’ve got this shit resolved. I’ll make do with my shitty grad students until then.”

Gavin flashed a small smile. “Thank you.”

Burnie clapped a hand on Gavin’s shoulders. “No problem, buddy.”

~

“Lindsay?” Gavin asked.

“S’up?”

“Could we talk about something?”

There was silence on Lindsay’s side, and Gavin felt his leg start bounce up and down until he heard Lindsay’s voice again.

“There’s this really awesome bar on Sixth Street, right by where all the nightclubs are. You know which one I’m talking about?”

“I think so, yeah.” Gavin replied, an eyebrow raised.

“You ever been there?”

“No.”

“You okay with having some bonding time over some drinks?”

“That sounds top, actually.” Gavin replied. “I need something to take off the edge.”

Lindsay sniggered. “Don’t drink too much, man. I want to be sure that we can have some actual conversation.”

Gavin smiled. “I’ll try.”

“Alright. You wanna go over in about an hour or so?” Lindsay asked.

“Sounds good.”

“Sweet. I’ll see you then.”

“See you then.”

~

Gavin couldn’t help sighing with relief when the bartender had brought Lindsay and him their pints. Gavin immediately grabbed his own, chugging practically half of his own down.

“Jesus,” Lindsay stated after Gavin had placed the glass on the table with a clink. “I told you not to get too slammed.”

“Oh. Yeah, sorry.”

Lindsay took a sip of her own pint. “It’s fine.”

The pair sat in silence for a while, nursing their own drinks. Gavin deliberated talking, trying to figure exactly how much he wanted to tell Lindsay.

Lindsay glanced over to Gavin, a hint of deliberation on her face before she broke the silence between them.“I dated Michael a few years back.”

Gavin nodded. “Yeah. Michael told me about it.”

Lindsay took a swig of her beer. “I feel like I shouldn’t be too surprised; I was really one of his first relationships.”

Gavin sipped at his beer. He could just stop the conversation there; it didn’t really matter what happened to her, right?

Might as well ask, though.

“Why’d you two break up?”

Lindsay sighed. “God, it was stupid.” She took a sip of her pint again, Gavin doing the same with his own. “Basically, I pushed his boundaries too far. Not sure if it’s still the case, but at the time, Michael was somewhat okay with romantic kisses.”

“Yeah, it depends on the context now.” Gavin said.

“Figures. I have a feeling that’s my fault.” Lindsay sighed again. “So, I kissed him, and, well, it got pretty intense. I started his neck, and my hands started to wander, when he suddenly pushed me away. He was pissed, no surprise, and he said right then and there that we should break up. I agreed with him.”

“Geez.” Gavin mumbled. He took a swig of his pint. “So, do you still have feelings for him?”

“For a while, I did. For about a year, he refused to talk to me. Any time we even glanced at each other in the halls, I could see him start to get mad. But then, we started talking again. Once we had finally become good friends again, I realized that it was better that way. And, after that, I didn’t have much trouble dropping all of that romantic baggage.” Lindsay took a sip of her beer. “Right. We’re not here to talk about the past, though. What’s going on with you two?”

A sense of dread abruptly came over Gavin. He took a swig of his drink. “I messed up, pretty badly.”

Lindsay’s face shifted to a more serious expression. “What happened?”

“Me and Michael, we had this... arrangement. Since Michael didn’t want to have sex, he let me have sex with other people, so long as he wasn’t around.” Gavin took another sip of his beer. “I had invited this girl over, Meg. We were in the middle of going at it, and, well, Michael showed up. And it didn’t take long for him to get pissed. He kicked Meg out, and then berated me for not knowing that I was coming over. All because I didn’t think to check my bloody phone.”

“Well then.” Lindsay took a swig of her beer. “I’m guessing you want some advice?”

“If you’ve got any.”

“Well, you should talk to him.”

Gavin gulped.

“You know I’m right, though. I don’t really have much to say about his reaction, beyond, well, I’m not that strong. Really though, two of you need to have a hardcore discussion.”

Gavin nodded, letting out a breath. “I’ve never had a relationship that was as difficult as this one. The relationships where I could actually have sex seem so much easier.”

“Is it, though?” Lindsay asked. “I mean, yeah, it’s definitely nice to be able to have a sexual relationship with someone you love, but, say you’re in the middle of a big fight. Things like sex could just be used as a distraction to avoid having to confront the real problem. Not every sexual relationship’s like that, but, you know.”

Lindsay shrugged. “This relationship has been good for you, Gavin, and for Michael as well. I’m sure you can find some way to man up enough to solve this problem.”

“I know.” Gavin pulled out his phone, noting that it was 10:30. “Michael should be off his shift by now.”

Gavin sighed. “I think I’m gonna avoid putting this off.”

Lindsay smiled. “Good man. Finish up your drink, I’ll pay for the two of us, and I’ll drive you over to Michael’s apartment.”

“Lindsay-”

“Dude, I insist.” Lindsay glanced to her almost-empty glass before knocking back the rest of the beer.

Gavin lifted up his glass before knocking back the rest of his own.

“Wait.”

Lindsay had started to get up, pulling out her keys. “What’s up?”

“Could we pass by my house?”

Lindsay raised an eyebrow. “You getting cold feet or something?”

“No! No, it’s not that.” Gavin replied, holding out his hands. “I’ve just got to grab something real quick.”

Lindsay squinted her eyes briefly. “Alright. You don’t leave your house in under ten minutes, I’m going inside to drag your ass back into the car.”

Gavin couldn’t help a smirk. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

Lindsay smirked before throwing a few bills onto the bar. “Come along then, Gavin.”

~

Gavin practically ran over to the tall, white shelf that sat on the wall to the right of the large TV set. His fingers traced along the sides of the game cases, trying to find one in particular in the overabundance of games.

Gavin scowled.

Why’d he and Geoff have so many of these things, anyways?

Gavin was kneeling on the tile floor, a grin lighting up his face when he found the game he was thinking of. He grabbed the case, scrambling off the floor and to Lindsay’s car.

Lindsay glanced over, an eyebrow raised as Gavin slammed the door closed. Gavin shifted, placing the case in front of him as he put on the seat belt.

“Mario Kart, huh?”

Gavin nodded.

“Good choice.” Lindsay stated casually before she started up the car.

~

Gavin let out a breath, grip tightening on the video game’s case as he glanced up to Michael’s building.

“Well, here we are.” Lindsay stated.

“Indeed.” Gavin gulped.

Lindsay tapped Gavin on his shoulder, breaking Gavin’s gaze on the building, before wrapping her arms around Gavin. Gavin’s eyes widened slightly, awkwardly wrapping his arms around Lindsay, giving her a light squeeze.

Lindsay pulled out of the hug, hands still on Gavin’s waist, before she pressed a kiss to Gavin’s cheek.

Lindsay flashed Gavin a small smile. “Go get ‘em.”

Gavin had a small smile on his face before he got out of Lindsay’s car.

Gavin let out a breath when he finally made the slow trek up to Michael’s apartment. Who the hell wanted to live on the third floor, anyways?

Gavin shook his head, lifting a curled hand to the door.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've said this a lot, but I'll say it anyways: I've got a [Tumblr.](oceannanotoceania.tumblr.com) You can drop me a prompt or two, if you'd like. :3


	12. Michael

Michael was pulled out of dialing Gavin’s phone when he heard three sharp knocks. He pocketed his phone, walking up to the front door.

Michael was greeted by the sight of Gavin, a timid smile on his face.

Michael’s eyes widened. “Gavin?”

“Hi Michael.” Gavin replied. “Look, we need to talk, I know that I messed up.”

Michael glanced down to the case Gavin was tightly gripping in one hand at his side.

He squinted.

Wait. Is that...

“Is that Mario Kart?” Michael asked, pointing to the case at Gavin’s side.

Gavin blinked, pulled out of his train of thought. “Y-Yeah.”

Michael opened the door wider, moving out of the entrance. “Come in.”

Gavin hesitated before walking into Michael’s apartment, wandering towards the living room. Michael couldn’t help smirking as he closed the door.

Not even a second later, Gavin launched back into his apology.

“Michael, I really am sorry-”

“Dude, we’re gonna have a long fucking discussion about this arrangement of ours. Part of me feels like I can’t trust you not to make some sort of fuck-up like this.”

Gavin appeared to be frozen to the spot, his eyes wide.

Michael let out a breath, the expression on his face softening.

He really couldn’t do this right now.

“But, not right now.”

The fear on Gavin’s face shifted to confusion.

“There are more important things at hand.” Michael pointed to the game. “I need to completely slay your ass at Mario Kart.”

Gavin’s posture slackened, relief coming onto his face. He flashed a smirk.

“I don’t know, I’m pretty good at this game too.”

Michael snorted. “Gavin, your ‘good’ is everyone else’s decent.”

Michael walked over to his living room, kneeling by his TV set after waving Gavin over to the living room. He held out a hand, taking the game from Gavin once the man had come over. Michael turned on the TV, placing the game in the Wii before switching the TV over to the right input. He grabbed two controllers, flopping onto the couch before holding out the controller.

“You’re so screwed.” Michael said, snickering quietly as the game loaded.

Gavin looked down at the controller, pausing before he grabbed the thing from Michael’s hands. Gavin sat back into the couch, his gaze flickering over to the TV screen. Michael raised an eyebrow when he noticed the unreadable emotion in Gavin’s face, instead shaking his head, and turning to focus on picking a track that would most effectively humiliate Gavin.

Michael’s statement was easily proven within fifteen minutes. Throughout that time, Michael had already won twice, taking second place in the game while Gavin sat at sixth place.

Their game had slowly migrated to the floor, Michael and Gavin sat in front of the coffee table, their legs crossed.

“I fucking told you.” Michael giggled. “You were screwed from the get-go.”

“I was ahead of you for a while.” Gavin retorted.

“Yeah, and then you ran into the fucking banana peel that you had thrown out!” Michael exclaimed, his voice cracking. He glanced over to the TV screen, watching the game that was still in the middle of loading. “You’re a fucking idiot, have I told you that?”

Gavin sniggered. “Plenty of times.”

Michael smirked, looking back to the TV screen as the screen began to countdown.

Not even a second after the race had started, Gavin had spun out, holding the A button down too soon for a boost.

Michael burst out laughing, watching as his character sped past Princess Peach, bringing him up to third place.

“Dumbass.” Michael said through his laughter.

He glanced over to Gavin, seeing how the man’s gaze appeared to be very focused on the game in front of him. Michael raised an eyebrow, promptly turning back to the TV screen.

Shit. He’d fallen to fifth place.

Michael straightened his posture, leaning forward slightly as he became focused on regaining his ranking.

As the round came into an end, Michael couldn’t help smirking when he saw the rankings, Michael taking second place, while Gavin was, once again, in sixth.

“We should keep playing, I’m having way too much fun slaying your ass.” Michael sniggered as he browsed through the lists of tracks, trying to figure out which one would be the most amusing to see Gavin attempt to complete.

Michael raised an eyebrow, looking over to Gavin when the man had yet to respond to Michael. Gavin was looking at Michael, an unsure look on his face.

“You’re taking this well, aren’t you?”

Michael raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“You said that we needed to talk but we’re doing this instead.” Gavin gestured to the game they were in the midst of playing.

Michael let out a breath, his face falling.

“I know we need to talk, but, I just need to do this for a bit, okay?”

Gavin nodded.

Michael let out a sigh of relief, turning back to the TV screen. Michael couldn’t help a smirk when he found the perfect track.

Michael glanced over to Gavin, quietly giggling when he saw how Gavin’s face had paled.

A few seconds later, the race had begun, Michael quickly speeding up to second place, while Gavin was, for once, sitting at fourth.

Michael leaned back against the coffee table, glancing over to Gavin.

“You know, I’ve missed this.”

Gavin glanced over to Michael, his gaze flickering back to the screen. “Missed what?”

“This.” Michael attempted to make a gesture of the situation they were in without throwing off his ranking in the game. “Just, us being complete and total fucking morons together.”

Gavin looked back to Michael, a relieved look on his face. “Yeah. I’ve missed this too.”

Michael gulped, feeling a small flush on his face while under the influence of Gavin’s tender gaze.

Michael scooted closer to Gavin, placing the hand with the controller on the floor. Gavin’s hand that held the controller fell to his lap, his eyes focused on Michael. Michael held out a trembling hand, the hand hovering just beside Gavin’s cheek. Michael gulped, lightly caressing Gavin’s cheek before he leaned forward, pressing his lips to Gavin’s.

Michael pulled back a few seconds later. “I love you.”

The words poured out of Michael’s mouth without any thought.

Gavin smiled his lopsided smile. “I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh, thanks to everyone who's stuck around on this crazy journey, and I hope you enjoyed your stay! This was really awesome to write, and it was really awesome to see how my own writing skills have improved with time. I definitely couldn't have gotten as far as I did without my beta [Zeke](http://archiveofourown.org/users/coleander/pseuds/coleander), and, well, all you rad people who stuck around and read this. So, yeah. On another note, feel free to drop me a prompt on my [Tumblr](oceannanotoceania.tumblr.com), I'm kinda having issues with writer's block anyways. :'D


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